


Ad Astra TL

by orphan_account



Series: Background works [6]
Category: Alternate History - Fandom - Fandom
Genre: Single Chapter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:09:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 22,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27805123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Series: Background works [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1449949





	Ad Astra TL

March 21, 1906

Petyr Androv is born in Ryazan, Russia. His father Anton is a foundry worker active in a number of workers groups eventually becoming a member of the Ryazan soviet. His mother, Svetlana, is a school teacher.

1920-1921

A young Petyr acts as a runner for the Red factions in northern Russia during the Soviet Civil War. He learns to read and write Russian and English. During the conflict he would obtain copies of some of Jules Verne books captured from western troops supporting the Whites in the Karelian Republic. He would become enamored with Verne. During the course of the war his father would become a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

1921-1930

Petyr attends a party high school, and later Moscow State University studying as a civil engineer. His father rises through the party, becoming head of the Ryazan Soviet.

1930-1936

After completing school, Petyr joins the Ministry of Machine and Instrument Building as an engineer and works on a number of projects involving Stalin’s 5-year plans, among them the White Sea-Onega Canal. He rises quickly, part due to his charisma, talents in engineering, organization, management, and partly due to his fathers influence. He also gains a reputation as someone who can get the job done. 

1932

Petyr hears about the work of GIRD in Moscow and keeps an interested eye on its progress. During one of his trips to Moscow he attends a meeting of GIRD where he meets SergeyKorolev, the two of similar age, get along quite well and spend the evening discussing Verne and rockets. The two will correspond with each other from time to time over the next few years.

1933 

Petyr becomes a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. 

November 18, 1935

Petyr marries Valentina Shermetevskaya, the only daughter of a senior politburo member.

1936-1940

Petyr is promoted quickly though the ranks of the Ministry of Machine and Instrument Building as a result his skills and the power vacuum created by Stalin’s purges. Thankfully his father is on Stalin’s good side and Petyr’s family avoids many of the problems related to the purges. In private Petyr and his father agree strongly that these purges will only serve to weaken the motherland. He continues to work on numerous large construction projects throughout the Soviet Union

July 27, 1938

Korolev is arrested for “being a member of an anti-Soviet organization”

August 1938

Mariya Balanina (Korolev’s mother) writes letters to various Soviet officials including Stalin himself pleading her son’s innocence. 

September 27, 1938

Korolev is sentenced to 10 years of hard labor at the Kolyma gold mines.

November 1938

Mariya Balanina writes a letter to Petyr about Korolev’s arrest. He begins to carefully look into look into the incident.

Feburary 1939

Petyr talks to one of his fathers close friends at the NKVD pointing out that Korolev, while obviously guilty (not that Petyr really believed this), was a talented engineer and pilot and that perhaps he could be useful for something besides the almost certain death that awaited him at Kolyma. His father’s friend would review Korolev’s file but also warn Petyr, “I cannot guarantee anything, but I will look into the matter. I do this only because of my friendship to your father and your reasoning, which is sound, but I warn you, in this day and age it is not wise to become so interested in one who has been branded a traitor to the state.” While looking into Korolev’s case, his father’s friend discovers that Vasily Ulrikh the prosecutor in Korolev’s trial had filed a protest against Korolev’s punishment. He is able to delay Korolev’s transfer to Kolyma until the matter is decided.

June 13, 1939

Beria signs an order reducing the charges against Korolev from “being a member of an anti-Soviet organization” to that of a “saboteur of military technology” and orders a new trial.

Note: This occurred in the OTL as well; however Korolev had begun his journey to Kolyma two weeks earlier and would not receive his new trial until spending nearly a year at Kolyma. In this ATL his transfer is delayed and Korolev avoids the harsh winter of 1939-1940 where he almost died of scurvy. The hardship he suffered first at Kolyma and then while waiting for transport back to the west would have a permanent and detrimental effect on his health, most notably it made him susceptible to pneumonia and would seriously weaken his heart, a major contributing factor in his death.

June 24, 1939

Korolev is transferred to cell 66 at Butyrsky prison, pending further investigation of his case.

October 3, 1939

Korolev’s sentence is commuted to 6 years, he is ordered to a Sharashka (a work camp for scientists and engineers) in Tushino near Moscow

Note: This was the same Sharashka Glushko was sent to. 

1940-1944

Petyr is put in charge of evacuating factories from the Ukraine and getting them operational during the Great Patriotic War. His effort is more effective than it was in OTL, but it has little effect on the ultimate outcome of the war.

Petyr’s father is seriously injured at Kursk, he would later be awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union for his actions. Petyr is awarded the Order of Lenin for efforts during the war. After the surrender of Germany, Soviet troops take over from Allied occupying troops at the Mittelwerk V-2 factory on May 15,1945. Largely on Petyr’s realization concerning the importance of this facility

Note: This is two weeks sooner than OTL. US forces are unable to remove as much of the facility as they were OTL.

1944

Petyr is promoted to chairman of the “State Committee on Reconstructive Efforts in the Ukraine”. He is responsible for overseeing the rebuilding of Ukraine after the war. As part of his role Petyr has to work with numerous ministries and committees, gaining him valuable exposure to a number of rising stars in the Soviet leadership, among them Dmitiri Ustinov and Khrushchev.

1945-1946

Petyr makes a number of trips to Soviet occupied Germany to evaluate captured factories and determine what equipment should be transferred back to the Soviet Union.

1952

Petyr’s fathers health takes a turn for the worse and Petyr returns to Moscow, here he meets a number of influential members of the party as they come to pay their respects. One of them is Dmitiri Ustinov the Minister of Armaments (later Minister of Defense Industries); he has been very impressed with Petyr’s efforts in the Ukraine and offers Petyr a high-ranking position in the Ministry. His father dies shortly later.

1952-1962 The rise to power. 

As Petyr’s role in the Ministry of Armaments grows, he begins to realize the scale of the poor economic shape that the Soviet Union is really in. He is convinced that serious reform is needed if socialism is to prevail. Although he is successful in streamlining and improving efficiency in the defense industry, winning him numerous friends in the military, suggestions for improving other sectors of Soviet industry fall on deaf ears and are dismissed by both the leadership and bureaucracy. Getting things done in the civilian economy is virtually impossible. At first he supports the policies of Khrushchev but by 1957 he has become seriously disillusioned. Petyr decides that the only way to implement the reforms he believes are required is to become leader of the Soviet Union, something he realizes may actually be possibility for him. Petyr decides that it is time to play the dangerous game. From this time foreword he continues to grow his network of friends, allies and contacts throughout the party, in key ministries, the military and the KGB. His father’s name combined with the Pyter’s reputation from the war and in Ukraine open many doors for him. Under the auspice of “formulating contingency plans for militarization of Soviet Industry in the event of prolonged war”, he forms a number of study groups to help detail the plans he hopes to implement. Through these he also identifies like minded individuals who agree with the need for economic reforms.

March 1953

The Ministry of Armaments becomes The Ministry of Defense Industries.

August 31, 1956

Petyr is appointed a member of the State Commission for the R-7 test series, one of 14 high-ranking officials overseeing the initial proving of the R-7 ICBM 

May 1956

Petyr becomes chairman of newly formed Defense Technology Committee, becoming a member of the Council of Ministers.

October 4, 1957

Launch of Sputnik 1

December 1957

Petyr becomes a member of the newly formed Military Industrial Commission.

September 1958

Petyr is elected to the Supreme Soviet. Earning him the unique distinction of holding two important positions one party, one government.

September 1959 

Petyr is part of Khrushchev’s entourage on his trip to the US. What Petyr sees shocks him, the Soviet situation is far more serious than he though. His convictions that serious changes are needed if the USSR is to ever compete with the US are strengthened.

November 1959

As part of the Chairman of the Defense Technology Committee, Petyr convinces Ustinov to back Korolev in choosing Kuznetsov over Glushko for developing the engines for the R-9 He argues that allowing Glushko to focus on the engines for Yangel’s R-16 is more critical. With Glusko’s continuing difficulty in developing high thrust cryogenic engines it is felt that perhaps it is time to give someone else a chance. He also points the desire to have more than one design bureau capable of developing high thrust engines. 

Note: In the OTL Ustinov backed Glushko in developing the engines for the R-9 even though he was having considerable difficulties. Kuznetsov had little experience in rocket engine development and assigning him the R-9 was considered too risky. In later years the reliance on Glushko would have serious repercussions on development of the N-1. Glushko would refuse to develop engines LOX/Kerosene for the N-1 and Korolev would have to rely on Kuznetsov in the end. By involving Kuznetsov in developing rocket engines in a larger role than the OTL he will be in a far better position to contribute to the N-1, additionally the NK-9 engines that Kuznetsov planned for the R-9 were the predecessor of the NK-15 used in the N-1, this change allows an almost 2 year advance in the development of technology for the N-1’s engines.

1960

Petyr becomes a member of the Presidium.

January 30, 1960

Europa conference, 12 European nations gather to discuss a European satellite launcher, it would form the basis of the failed Europa launcher.

September 1, 1960

First Chinese launch of a ballistic missile, a Soviet R-2 missile.

December 1960

The Central Committee issues a decree “On the development of advanced propellants for future rocket propulsion”, it gives increased funding to the design bureaus of Isayev and Lyulka to develop rocket engines using Hydrogen fuel, and the design bureaus of Glushko and Bondaryuk to develop technologies for future nuclear rockets.

April 12, 1961

Vostok 1 Flight, Yuri Gagarin becomes the first person in orbit

May 5, 1961

Mercury 3 Flight, Al Shepard becomes the first American in space 

May 25, 1961

John F. Kennedy during an address to the Congress calls on the US to “commit itself, before this decade is out of Landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth”

July 21, 1961

Mercury 4 Flight

August 6, 1961

Vostok 2 Flight

August 13, 1961

Construction of the Berlin Wall begins.

October 27, 1961

First flight of the Saturn I, rocket

January 19, 1962

First flight of the R-9.

Note: This is delayed 9 months from the OTL due to engine development problems.

Febuary 1962

Khrushchev and the Council of Defense invite the chief designers of the nations rocket programs at the resort of Pisunda to discuss future plans. Petyr calls Korolev to impress the importance of this gathering, “Many important decisions will come from this meeting. Be sure you are prepared”. Korolev gives a detailed presentation of the N-I, N-II, N-III series of rockets he is planning, each one building on the last. Potential payloads are orbiting military space stations, large reconnaissance satellites and manned interplanetary missions. 

Note: In the OTL this meeting ended in disaster for Korolev, his presentation was mediocre and part way through the Khrushchev questioned Korolev on why he was using Kuznetsov engines rather than those developed by Glusko, his response was that Glushko had refused to develop the engines for the N-1. Glushko was pushing a storable propellant version of the N-1, and started to argue with Korolev over the use of the LOX/Kerosene in the N-1, right in front of Khrushchev and the rest of the defense council, the result of this fiasco would seriously delay development of the N-1. In this ATL Kuznetsov is now has the experience in developing high thrust engines from the R-9, (with a successful launch the previous month) whose engines are very similar to the ones planned for the N-1, thus Khrushchev never asks the question and the argument never starts.

February 20, 1962

Mercury 6 Flight, John Glenn becomes the first American in orbit

March 1962

As the Chairman of the Defense Technology Committee Petyr convinces the Council of Ministers and the Military Industrial Commission to approve full scale development of Korolev's N-I, N-II, N-III program. He argues that a dedicated space launch vehicle should be developed in parallel to the large GR-2 ICBM (UR-500), rather than a single missile that would have to fulfill both roles. He compares it to the equivalent American Saturn and Titan programs. Petyr points out the supply of GR-2’s would not have to be divided between military and space applications, which had become a problem with the R-7. In order to prevent the diversion of resources, work on other projects to develop heavy lift and super heavy lift launchers (such as the UR-700 and R-56) are curtailed. Proposals for payloads include reconnaissance satellites, military space stations, and nuclear powered naval radar platforms.

Note: The GR-2 would eventually become the Proton launch vehicle

April 16, 1962

The Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party approves a decree on “On Important Work on Intercontinental Ballistic, Global Missiles and Rocket Carriers for Space Objects”. It would approve work on a number of new ICBM’s and launch vehicles, among them the UR-200, UR-500, N-1, N-11 and N-111. Yangel’s R-36 is also approved, but development of the R-56 and UR-700 is cancelled in order to focus on development of the N-1.

May 24, 1962

Mercury 7 Flight

August 11, 1962

Vostok 3 Flight

August 12, 1962

Vostok 4 Flight

September 12, 1962

John F. Kennedy makes his famous “we choose to go to the moon” speech at Rice University 

October 3, 1962

Mercury 8 Flight

October 15-28, 1962

Cuban Missile Crisis

Nov 3, 1962 Carpe Diem

Petyr Androv rises in the Presidium to make a speech condemning Khrushchev. He berates Khrushchev on the embarrassment of events in Cuba, saying that his saber rattling there and in Berlin have accomplished nothing but increase western defense funding and polarize world opinion against the USSR. He characterizes Khrushchev’s economic policy as “big for the sake of bigness”, he cites example after example of inefficiencies caused by Khrushchev’s policies, such as steel mills making great quantities of low grade steel in order to meet quota’s, rather than the high grade steel needed by industry. He points out how even Khrushchev’s current 5-year plan is already falling behind and how the Soviet Union is becoming increasingly dependant on foreign credit. He explains that Khrushchev is throwing away the Soviet Union’s lead in space in order to pursue useless political grandstanding. That while the USSR was the first nation in space, last year (1961) the United States launched 4 times as many rockets as the Soviet Union. He details how the Red Army was beginning to fall behind in technology and tactics, a dangerous situation similar to 1941, when a large and dedicated Red Army had been dealt serious defeats because it failed to keep up with modern developments. He points out the growing rift with China and that the USSR’s position as the leader of world socialism may be waning. Petyr warns that current policies are turning the Soviet Union into a paper tiger, a nation of bluster and propaganda that has to build walls to keep its people in. Petyr calls for a vote to remove Khrushchev from power, the motion passes (as it did in 1957, but with far greater support). 

November 5, 1962

Petyr Antonovich Androv is nominated and elected Premier of the Soviet Union. His experience and success in industry combined with his ideas of modernizing the nation and the Red Army earn him a number of key supporters. As in 1957 Khrushchev puts the matter before the Central Committee of the Communist Party to overturn the decision of the Presidium. However this time the Party, does not side with him, the decision is confirmed and Khrushchev is ousted, he retires to his dacha on the Black Sea. The same day Petyr becomes Head of the Council of Ministers, the Prime Minister of the Soviet Union.

The time had now come. Petyr now had the power to enact the reforms he had been planning for years. His first act was to immediately cancel the current 5-year plan to replace it with his own. A plan focusing on rationalizing and streamlining the central planning process, improving quality was to be a key goal, quotas were to be replaced with performance indicators, more emphasis was placed on consumer goods and modernizing existing plants and factories opposed to building new ones. Some personal freedoms were to be expanded, others tightened along with the power of the KGB. Khrushchev’s attempts at decentralization would be halted. New design bureaus for consumer goods would be created. Incentives are to be introduced for higher productivity and quality. A key goal is to increase foreign trade with goods that could compete with the west. Measures are taken to increase gold production to improve Soviet reserves. The Red Army and Airforce are to be reduced in size over the next 5 years, but new and advanced projects are started in order to modernize the force. Production of surface vessels for the navy would be limited and the resources transferred to the construction of new submarines. The strategic rocket forces would be expanded dramatically. Petyr uses fear of the West to gain support for his reforms and to force them through the bureaucracy. He argues that if these changes are not made immediately, it would only be a matter of time before the West would eventually overwhelm the USSR, not militarily, but economically, culturally and technologically (They will bury us). One important element of his plans is to encourage and support a strong and vigorous space program. Realizing the global propaganda value of Sputnik and Yuri Gagarin he understands that such a program will not only serve to win the hearts, minds and respect of the world, but it would also spur the development of new technologies and encourage the training of new scientists, engineers and technicians. It would instill pride in the people of the Soviet Union and allow the USSR to show its technical strength and ability. Advancement of ballistic missile technology and faster development and deployment of ICBM’s would close the missile gap (The missile gap did in fact exist in the early 1960’s, but it was the US who had the considerably larger force). It would help give the military needed capabilities in communications and reconnaissance and force the development and construction of new production methods and factories.

Like a well-oiled machine Petyr’s study groups spring into action, by the end of December hundreds of decrees are passed by the Central Committee, re-structuring government, re-prioritizing tasks and moving Androv supporters into key roles. The swiftness of these changes would shock many in the West and Soviet Union alike. For many years scholars would debate how Petyr had managed to force his changes through and secure power so quickly. In many ways it was due to his centrist policies, he was not a lackey of the military, but his actions in the defense industry had gained him support, he was not a puppet of the party, but had come from a strong party family, he did not pander to the KGB, but was a strong supporter of increased external security. By not being in anyone’s pocket, he was judged as an acceptable successor by most. Petyr was also able to articulate the fears that many in the military, party and KGB had. With the advent of reconnaissance satellites, it was no longer possible to fool the West into thinking the Soviet Union was more powerful than it was, there was no bomber gap, the US had a substantial lead in ICBM deployment, the civilian economy was faltering, citizens were fleeing to the west, the Soviet Union could no longer bluster, it needed iron to back up its words and would have to earn the respect of the world for real. Although it would take years for the full effects of Petyr’s reforms to be seen, they would have a tremendous impact on the future of the Soviet Union.

January 5, 1963

Dimiti Ustinov is promoted to the Secretary of the Central Committee for Defense Industries and Space, becoming a member of the Secretariat.

Jan 14,1963

Petyr calls the Chief Designers to Moscow, (Korolev, Glushko, Chelomei, and Yangel) to outline his new space policy recently approved by the Central Committee. The June 23, 1960 government decree (715-296) 'On the Production of Various Launch Vehicles, Satellites, Spacecraft for the Military Space Forces in 1960-1967' was to be discarded along with a number of other decree’s outlining long term space planning. Projects would be cancelled, others would be consolidated, responsibilities would change and new goals set. A new Soviet Space Agency was to be created at the Council of Ministers level, to be called the “Ministry of Reactive Propulsion”, to centralize the USSR’s space efforts. Deployment and operation of ICBM forces would remain with the Strategic Rocket Forces, but the new Ministry would be responsible for developing new rockets and payloads for the military and other applications. It would be a combination of all current design groups such as the Fourth Scientific Research Institute of the Ministry of Defense, TsNIIMASH, NIITI, Agat, and NII Khimash, OKB-1, OKB-52. Georgiy A. Tyulin would be named head of the new ministry. Under the new 5-year plan the project responsibilities were to be as follows

Launch Vehicles

N-III (Korolev OKB-1) Medium-Heavy Booster (5000-7000kg LEO) 

N-II (Korolev OKB-1) Heavy Booster (20,000kg LEO)

N-I (Korolev OKB-1) Very Heavy Booster (80,000kg LEO)

R-7 11A57 (Cancelled) 

R-7 Molniya 8K78 (Korolev OKB-1) Since development was completed the rocket would be used until N-III versions became available, all further development of R-7 variants cancelled.

Kosmos-63S1 (Yangel) Light Booster (300kg LEO)

Kosmos-3 (Polyot) Light-Medium Booster (1500kg LEO)

UR-200 (Chelomei OKB-52) Cancelled

UR-500 (Chelomei OKB-52) Cancelled

ICBM

R-9 (Korolev) Deployment would occur in small numbers.

GR-1 (Korolev OKB-1) FOBS

R-36 (Yangel) SS-9 Heavy ICBM

R-46 (Yangel) Cancelled

R-16R (Yangel) Medium ICBM (An updated version of the R-16, to improve manufacturability, reduce costs and increase reliability)

UR-100 (Chelomei OKB-52) SS-11 Light ICBM (Development of the UR-100 would be considered a top priority, and an accelerated schedule was adopted)

The goal was to develop a small number of ICBM's to completion and then use mass production in order to deploy them in quantity.

Manned Spacecraft

Vostock (Korolev OKB-1) Flights of Vostok would continue until the Soyuz spacecraft was ready. Further

development of the Vostok would be restricted to technology and equipment to be used in the Soyuz or Zenit Spy Satellites.

Voshod (Korolev) Cancelled

KS Soyuz-A (Korolev)

KL (Korolev) This project was to be combined with the KS program to produce a common vehicle for both lunar and earth orbital missions. With the exception of work on space planes, Soyuz would be the only manned vehicle approved for flight.

KMV (Korolev) Development would be deferred on interplanetary manned travel. Research into long lead technologies would continue (such as closed loop life support systems).

L-1 (Chelomei) Cancelled

Scientific and Planetary Spacecraft 

M (Lavochkin / Chelomei) Mars Probe

V (Lavochkin / Chelomei) Venus Probe

E (Lavochkin / Chelomei) Lunar Probe

K (Chelomei) Kosmoplan, the scope of Kosmoplan proposal was also dramatically curtailed, development would focus on space planes, rather than the wide variety of projects originally proposed. It would be merged with the military R program.

Elektron (Chelomei) Radiation belt mappers (transferred from Korolev)

L-2 Unmanned lunar lander (Lavochkin)

Military Spacecraft

US-A - (Chelomei OKB-52) - Naval reconnaissance satellite using the P6 nuclear reactor.

Zenit (Kozlov) - Photo reconnaissance / cartography

Soyuz P/R (Kozlov) – Investigation of military variants and uses of Korolev’s Soyuz.

Tsiklon (Reshetnev) – Navigation

R - (Chelomei OKB-52) - manned spaceplanes

Meteorological satellites - (Chelomei OKB-52) transferred from Korolev

Communications satellites - (Chelomei OKB-52) transferred from Korolev

DS (Yangel) - Small satellites / launchers 

OS - (Chelomei OKB-52) - Space stations (transferred from Korolev)

IS – (Chelomei OKB-52) Antisatellite weapons

Military Communications Satellites (Chelomei OKB-52)

Glushko, Kuznetsov, and parts of Isayev and Lyulka would also be merged into the ministry and would be responsible for developing all engines required by Chief Designers, including the development of a nuclear rocket (both thermal and electric). Petyr made it clear to all of them, that all duplication of effort would cease and so would all the petty bickering and turf wars between them, if not, those who could get the job done would replace them. The Soviet Union would take on President Kennedy’s challenge of “before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth” and win. Draft proposals from each of the designers would be evaluated in 6 months, with commitment to a plan by the fall of this year. The only restrictions on these proposals would be that they make use of the N-1 and the Soyuz capsule, unless they could demonstrate definitive cost and time savings. In no uncertain terms Petyr would make it clear that he would be watching the progress of the Soviet Space Program closely and would expect results.

Note: For the first time the Soviet Union would have a centralized organization for its space and rocketry efforts, additionally by being its own Ministry, space efforts could be funded directly. In the OTL the space program was sandwiched between the Artillery and Strategic Missile forces on one side and the Air Force on the other, with elements scattered through various other ministries. While the Air Force strongly supported manned efforts in space, it was the Strategic Missile Forces that controlled its funding, and they wanted ICBM’s. This lead to cases where the Air Force would use its power to get decree’s supporting space efforts passed in the Central Committee, but no money would actually be allocated to fund these efforts. Although there was high-level support for development of the N-1, Soyuz and continued Vostok flights, little money was actually spent.

May 1963

Since the N-111 with the Soyuz upper stage will have a greater payload than the originally planned R-7 variant, Korolev decides to go back to the 2.2m diameter Soyuz decent capsule design. 

Note: In the OTL the original designs for the Soyuz called for a 2.2m capsule design, however mass concerns with the vehicle and payload limitations of the R-7, forced Korolev to scale down his plans. Ironically, further weight reduction in other areas as the Soyuz was developed would have allowed the larger capsule to be carried. In this ATL the N-111 will be the launch vehicle for the Soyuz capsule, with its greater payload capacity Korolev decides not to scale down the capsule.

May 15, 1963

Mercury 9 Flight

June 14, 1963

Vostok 5 Flight

June 16, 1963

Vostok 6 Flight

June 20-23, 1963

The Chief Designers are called before an ad hock committee of members from the Academy of Sciences and the Military Industrial Commission in order to evaluate plans for a manned lunar landing and make a recommendation to the Central Committee. Eventually two semi permanent commissions would be formed in order to evaluate space proposals. An Academy of Science commission would evaluate scientific benefits and engineering practicality and would eventually become known informally as the “Keldysh Commission” due to the influence and constant chairmanship by Mstislav Keldysh. A second committee called the Military Space Science Committee (or the BKH Committee) would evaluate the military aspects of proposals and was typically headed by Dimitri Ustinov.

Korolev proposes an EOR mission, where 3 launches of the N-1 would carry the required components into orbit, the first would carry a lunar-lander module and a large un-fuelled TLI stage, the remaining launches would be tankers carrying fuel. Finally a modified Soyuz would be launched on an N-111 carrying the crew. (This was Korolev’s L3 proposal, and would eventually form the basis of the later LEK lunar missions)

Chelomei presents a proposal for a direct ascent lunar landing using his UR-700, a large storable propellant rocket based on the UR-500 design and the LK-700 lunar lander. He argues the simplicity of dispensing with dockings and complex orbital assembly and that his design could be developed faster than the N-1 and the Soyuz.

Yangel proposes an LOR mission similar to the American plan. A single launch of his R-56 would carry a modified Soyuz capsule with a crew of two and a small one-man lunar lander. His argument was that the N-1 had insufficient payload capacity to carry out the mission and a single launch would be cheaper than multiple launches.

In the end the committee would choose a modified version of Yangel’s proposal, using an upgraded N-1 in place of the R-56. With over a year and a half of work already invested in the N-1 and the success of the R-9 ICBM using engines similar to the N-1, it was felt that it would be counter productive to begin development of a new heavy booster. 

July 20, 1963

The Military Industrial Committee approves a plan for future Vostok missions. The plan calls for 4 flights in 1964, they are as follows

\-  A 10 day flight carrying a dog to validate the Vostok for long duration flights

\-  2 - 10 day manned flights to conduct a number of experiments for the Air Force and Academy of Sciences.

\-  1 Manned engineering test flight to validate subsystems to be used on the Soyuz capsule.

August 3, 1963

Based on the Chief Designers recommendations the following decree is issued by the Central Committee “On the exploration of cosmic and lunar space”. It approves the following plans for the manned lunar effort.

\-  Like the American effort the technique of Lunar Orbit Rendezvous (LOR) will be used to conduct the Soviet lunar landings.

\-  Payload of the N-1 will be increased to 90-95 tonnes in order to support this mission.

\-  A modified Soyuz carrying 2 cosmonauts will be used to travel to and from lunar orbit. This vehicle should be identical to the Soyuz planned for circumlunar flight. 

\-  Yangel would develop a one-man lunar lander to carry a single cosmonaut to and from the surface of the moon, to be designated the ‘Lunniy Korabl' or LK

\-  Chelomei would be responsible for developing lunar mappers and unmanned landers to scout out landing sites on the moon (essentially the L-2 program)

Note: This decree committing to the LOR method and a single manned lander would take place a year earlier than in OTL. Additionally development of the Soyuz and N-1 are in far better shape at this time compared with the OTL.

1964

Funding for the N-1 is approved at requested levels.

Note: In the OTL, although there was high level support for the N-1, funding was seriously restricted; the Ministry of Defense would allocate less than half the requested amounts. By March virtually all the money had been spent building initial facilities and conducting detailed design. For the rest of the year development would be at a virtual stand still. The lack of funding at this point and into 1965 had serious consequences to the N-1 program; most important was the lack of resources to build a large test stand for the N-1’s first stage. The resulting plan to “debug the N-1 in flight” would prove disastrous.

April 11, 1964

Vostok 7 Flight -  Conducted radiological-biological studies in the lower Van Allen belts. 10-day long duration flight was cut short after life support system began to fail on 8 th day

June 14, 1964

Vostok 8 Flight – Similar to the Vostok 8 flight except achieving the planned 10-day duration

July 1964

In response to increased Soviet development of high-speed aircraft. Congress authorizes the construction of the XB-70 AV/3. An additional 12 engines are also authorized, brining the total to 50.

Note: Construction of the third XB-70 was cancelled in July of 1964

July 19, 1964

First flight of the UR-100 ICBM

Note: This occurred about 10 months sooner than the OTL, mainly due to increased focus and an accelerated schedule.

August 1964

Military Industrial Commission approves 5 additional Vostok launches in the 1965 time frame. Missions are as follows:

\-  2 Manned engineering test flights to validate subsystems to be used in the Soyuz capsule.

\-  1 Unmanned flight to test the inflatable airlock design proposed for later manned EVA’s

\-  2 Manned EVA flights, using an inflatable airlock, the goal is to beat NASA plans for the Gemini EVA tests.

A single unmanned test flight of a Soyuz boilerplate is also planned for 1965, as is the first launch of the N-111.

Although there are calls for modifying the Vostok to carry additional cosmonauts in order to beat the US Gemini, they are rejected, as they would delay development of the Soyuz capsule.

August 19, 1964

First flight of the GR-1 FOBS ICBM, although the weapon would never be accepted into service, its development and test flights would validate a number of systems required by the N-1.

August 22, 1964

Vostok 9 Flight -  High altitude flight to conduct a number of astronomical and geophysical experiments and to test specific sub systems to be used on the Soyuz spacecraft. Flight was cut short after severe problem with the ion flow sensors being tested for Soyuz and the Vostok reaction control system. Guidance system problems  forces cosmonaut Volynov to make a manual re-entry burn after 12 orbits. He  is recovered safely

January 11, 1965

Soviet Government Decree (861-949) orders the Tu-144 program cancelled, the men and material are to be assigned to military and space programs to help address critical resource shortages in these areas. The increasing costs of the program, combined with increased demand for engineers by the military and space program leads the Council of Ministers to conclude that the resources for the Tu-144 could be used better elsewhere. 

Note: Although the Tu-144 was an incredible achievement by the Soviet Union, two crashes and the evaporation of the Supersonic Air Transport market would leave it on the dustbin of history. In this ATL I am making more demands on Soviet technological infrastructure in order to keep it in the space race. They need to get the technical resources from somewhere and one of these places I decided would be the Tu-144.

March 17, 1965

First static test of the N-1 Block A stage. A loose wrench left in one of the propellant lines causes an engine explosion 2.5 seconds into the test, seriously damaging the test stand and the static test stage. It would take almost 8 months to make the necessary repairs. The failure would spark a major effort to improve quality control on the N-1.

April 16, 1965

First static test of the Saturn IC stage.

April 18, 1965

Vostok 10  Flight - High altitude flight to conduct a number of astronomical and geophysical experiments and to test specific sub systems to be used on the Soyuz spacecraft. Flight was a complete success; photographs of the solar corona were taken along with X-Ray imagery. Flight used an improved version of the Soyuz ion flow sensors and guidance system that solved most the problems experienced by Vostok 9. Some guidance system anomalies were noted, but nothing serious.

May 11, 1965

First launch of the N-III, it would ultimately become the workhorse of the soviet space program

June 3, 1965

Gemini 4 Flight

June 26, 1965

Vostok 11 Flight, first manned EVA. -  First flight of modified Vostok spacecraft, replacing the ejection seat with a built in airlock. Braking rockets were added to the parachute lines to provide a soft landing. Flight was a success. Lenov experiences the same problems with his suit inflating and is able to enter the airlock only after bleeding excess pressure from his suit. Spacecraft lands off course forcing Leonov to spend the night in the capsule.

August 2, 1965

Vostok 12 Flight -  Similar to Vostok 11.  Yevgeni Khrunov used an improved version of the Yastreb space suit that Lenov used. Khrunov conducts a series of experiments during his 30 minute EVA demonstrating human’s capability in a space walk.

August 5, 1965

First successful full duration test of the Saturn IC stage.

August 21, 1965

Gemini 5 Flight, First US EVA

Note: In OTL the first US EVA occurred on Gemini 4, however it was hastily added to the mission after the Voshod-2 EVA. Original plans called for a later EVA.

October 22, 1965

N-1 Block A static test is halted after 12 seconds due to unexpected oxidizer line pressure transients.

November 26, 1965

Asterix 1, the first French satellite is launched.

December 4, 1965

Gemini 7 Flight

December 13, 1965

Cosmos 149, after numerous delays the first boilerplate Soyuz capsule is launched, the mission is a complete success. It is also the first launch of the N-111 Soyuz configuration.

December 16, 1965

Gemini 6 Flight

January 4, 1966

First successful full duration static test of the N-1 block A stage.

January 15, 1966

Korolev undergoes surgery to remove bleeding polyps from his intestines. During surgery a large tumor is discovered in his abdomen. Korolev almost dies, but his heart holds out and the surgery is ultimately successful. 

Note: In OTL Korolev died during this operation due to heart failure. During the autopsy it was found that his heart had been seriously damaged from Korolev’s experiences with scurvy and other hardships he had suffered at Kolyma. One Doctor was surprised that Korolev hadn’t died from heart failure long ago. The combination of his damaged heart and a higher dose of anesthetic (required due to Korolev having had his jaw broken shortly after his arrest) would in Korolev’s death. In this ATL Korolev never went to Kolyma and thus did not suffer damage to his heart and survives the operation.

March 16, 1966

Gemini 8 Flight

April 22, 1966

Vostok 13 Flight - Soyuz engineering test. 5-day mission conducted tests of a number of Soyuz subsystems. Tested a redesigned Soyuz guidance system and sensors in all modes with complete success. This will be the final flight of the Vostok program

June 3, 1966

Gemini 9 Flight

June 12, 1966 

The N-II is launched for the first time.

July 18, 1966

Gemini 10 Flight

September 12, 1966

Gemini 11 Flight

November 11, 1966

Gemini 12 Flight

January 26, 1967

Apollo 1 Fire

February 16, 1967

The XB-70 AV/3 makes her maiden flight. She was to have originally flown in the summer of 1966, but after the crash of AV/2 modifications were made to her ejection capsule, hydraulic systems, and brakes to improve the reliability of the aircraft

March 2, 1967 

President Johnson receives a National Intelligence Estimate of the Soviet Space Program from the CIA (as OTL), however the contents of this report are very different from the OTL. It details a Soviet program that is in many ways comparable to the US. It predicts that the Soviet Union could attempt to land a man on the moon as soon as early 1969 or late 1968.

Note: The OTL document detailed a Soviet program that was considerably far behind the United States, while they predicted that the Soviets could attempt a manned circumlunar flight in the near term, it predicted that a manned lunar attempt would not be possible before 1971-1972. This document was an important contributing factor to the FY68 budget cuts.

March 29, 1967

Petyr Androv signs a decree dramatically increasing Soviet assistance to its “Communist brethren” in North Vietnam. He believes it important that the Soviet Union remain the leader in fighting for the cause of world Socialism. Included are some front line weapon systems and advisors, with the purpose of gathering experience from seeing these systems tested in real combat conditions against western equipment.

April 23, 1967

Launch of Soyuz 1 -  First manned flight of the Soyuz spacecraft. Flight successfully verifies a number of the Soyuz subsystems. Problems with the sun sensor forces  Vladimir  Komarov to conduct sun orientation manually. Docking with Soyuz 2 fails on 3 separate attempts due to problems with the automatic guidance system. Soyuz 1 and 2 conduct joint operations for 2 days before Komarov returns to earth. During landing the main parachute fails to deploy and the reserve chute becomes tangled. Soyuz 1 impacts the ground at high speed killing Komarov instantly. 

April 26, 1967 

Launch of Soyuz 2 - Joint flight launched after 3 days of successful orbital operations of Soyuz 1. Docking attempts fail and the EVA to transfer Khrunov and Yeliseyev to Soyuz 1 is cancelled (To their later relief). After two days of joint operations they listen in horror as Kormarov death is announced. Soyuz 2 is ordered to remain in orbit for an additional 2 days so they can evaluate the problem. During landing Soyuz 2 main parachute also fails to deploy, but the reserve chute works correctly and the crew is recovered after a hard landing with only minor injuries. 

Note:  In OTL this flight was even more disastrous than the ATL Soyuz 1 flight. Soyuz 1 was the first manned launch after Korolev's death and his successor Mishkin was under tremendous pressure to get the Soviet Union back into space since there had been no flights in well over a year. At the same time the US had successfully completed the Gemini program and was soon to begin Apollo. The Soyuz program had been starved for funds since the beginning, (and some of those had been diverted into Voshod) and was now rushed into a manned launch, a launch that many knew that Soyuz wasn't ready for. Shortly after launch one of the solar panels on the spacecraft failed to deploy, the sun sensor and ion flow sensors failed to work correctly making it difficult for Komarov to control the vehicle. After 16 orbits, Kormarov was ordered to return early and even though he successfully made a difficult manual reentry burn, his parachute failed, killing him on impact. This graphic disaster was lead to final realization that the Soyuz module was not ready for manned flight and would result in an 18-month delay to the Soviet space program. In this ATL the problems with the Soyuz module are not nearly as numerous and they are not related to fundamental design problems. The main reasons for this change is the greater support and funding for the Soyuz program by the Soviet leadership and that Korolev is still alive. Although the flight still results in a deadly failure, it is more due to a specific design problem and not systemic of the entire program . In this case (as in the OTL) a coating applied to the exterior of the Soyuz spacecraft that was also incorrectly applied to the housings for the parachutes and prevented them from being extracted correctly. 

May 4, 1967

N-1 makes its maiden flight. Unknown to the US, it suffers from a number of serious problems. During flight, oscillations begin to build up in some of the first stage engines causing the N-1 to deviate from its launch trajectory. 106 seconds into flight a programmed shutdown of some engines causes propellant line hammering resulting in a fuel line rupture. The KORD control system malfunctions and shuts down all engines rather than just the effected engine, this malfunction ironically prevents the loss of the entire vehicle. Three seconds later the Block A stage separates. NII and NIII stages perform nominally.

The news of the launch is a major shock to the US. The first Saturn V flight isn’t planned until November. The combination of the apparent success of the N-1 and the recent CIA report on the status of the Soviet space program cause a number of Congressional leaders and Senators express serious concerns that the Soviet Union continues to lead the US in space. 

Note: Increased funding, support and earlier start date resulted in the N1 being ready much earlier than OTL, although the N1 still suffered from some problems it was in far better shape than OTL. Most importantly the experience with the GR-1, N11 and N111 flights have validated the upper stages and engines of the N1, as well the existence of a test stand for the N-1’s first stage has allowed a number of serious bugs to be worked out. In OTL every N1 launch suffered from failures in the first stage and the upper stages were never tested . 

May 16, 1967

NASA takes over Airforce X-23A (PRIME) program.

Note: In OTL the X-23A program was cancelled after 3 flights due to budget cutbacks. The first 2 vehicles were lost due to problems with the recovery system, the 3 rd fight was a compete success and post mission analysis showed that the vehicle was in good enough shape to be re-flown. The program was cancelled before the 4 th vehicle was flown. In this ATL NASA is not experiencing the FY68 budget crisis during this period and decides to take over the project.

July 12, 1967 

PRIME 4 (SV-5D Vehicle 4) is launched from KSC on an Atlas Booster. It is successfully recovered in the Pacific by a JC-130B, after completing a ¾ orbit. Mission is a complete success. Post flight analysis shows the vehicle to be in good enough shape for another mission.

July 26, 1967

Long lead work on SA-516 and SA-516 begins (As OTL), they are earmarked for the Apollo Applications program.

On this same day Webb testifies before the Senate Appropriations' Subcommittee of Independent Offices. Due to reports that the N-1 has a payload 15% larger than the Saturn V, he faces a number of pointed questions from the Senators and later from Congress about NASA’s plans to overtake the Soviets. He responds that NASA has made tremendous strides in catching up to the Soviets and that the Saturn V is a far more sophisticated launch vehicle than the N-1. He suggests that proposed enhancements to the Saturn V will allow the US to easily surpass the N-1 in payload capability. In the aftermath Webb calls for a reexamination of the S-VB and Nova studies. More detailed studies are ordered for increasing the payload capacity of the Saturn V, focus is placed on the MLV-V-3, MLV-V-23(L), Saturn MLV-V-4(S)-B, and V-D versions from previous studies. Additional studies are called for the Nova type I and II proposals (Type I Nova proposals involved the use of existing technology and equipment, type II Nova proposals involved using new but largely conventional technology, such as larger engines, there were also a type III category which involved using exotic technologies such as air breathing rockets, SSTO and LACE engines). 

Congress and the Senate approve a $5.5 billion dollar budget for NASA, $400 million more than President Johnson’s initial request. Included is funding for the 5,000 MW NERVA-II upper stage and the ETS-2 test stand at Jackass Flats. 

Note: In the ATL the ongoing successes of the Soviet space program result in a very different political landscape, in the OTL, demands from the war in Vietnam and Johnson's "Great Society" programs, put significant pressures on NASA's budget. With the Soviet firsts of the early 1960's now in the past, the political pendulum was swinging towards the support of more earthly concerns.

August 19, 1967

PRIME 5 (SV-5D Vehicle 3) is launched a second time from KSC, testing a new type of ablator coating. Vehicle is recovered in the Pacific; structural damage caused during parachute extraction prevents further flights of Vehicle 3.

Summer-Fall 1967

Soviets begin supplying North Vietnamese forces with improved weapon systems and equipment including anti-aircraft guns and missiles. Some of them man portable. 

September 12, 1967

Petyr assembles the Chief Designers, members of the Keldysh and BKH Commissions for a weeklong retreat to discuss future space plans for inclusion into the next 5-year plan. One of the key issues discussed are the limitations of the current lunar program. The Soviet LK lander is only capable of landing a single cosmonaut for a maximum of 24 hours on the surface; the equivalent American LM will carry 2 astronauts to the lunar surface for up to several days. All of the Chief designers agree that the payload of the N1 must be increased and that work on a second-generation lunar lander begun. Over the next few days a draft proposal is formulated that would eventually become the LEK.

September 27,1967

Joint Soyuz 3-4 Flight -  Successfully completes the original objective of the Soyuz 1-2 flight. Both craft perform a successful docking and crew transfer. They conduct joint operations for 3 days and return safely verifying most of the Soyuz systems.

October 27, 1967

Joint Soyuz 5,6,7 Flight -3 flight spectacular, Soyuz 5 observes the docking of Soyuz 6 and 7 which later conduct artificial gravity experiments using a tether between the spacecraft.

November 1, 1967

Petyr speaks to a full session of the Supreme Soviet and the Central Committee detailing the progress made over the past 5 years and the success of his 5-year plan.

Although raw industrial output had only improved modestly over the previous 5 years the quality and value of production had improved dramatically. Efficiency and productivity also saw significant improvements.

“The past 5 years of hard work by every worker in the Soviet Union has allowed us to renew our industrial might, giving us a strong foundation on which to build upon. We are now poised for the next 5 year plan which will see a dramatic increase in the output of strategic materials and finished goods. Already the effectiveness of this plan can be seen, consumer goods like our radios and cars are becoming popular in Europe. The military has begun to deploy a number of advanced new systems and implement new, more effective doctrine. Our ICBM and SLBM forces are now on par with that of NATO and we now have effective deterrence against any sort of attack. Our space program is back on track and although the death of Comrade Komarov earlier this year was a shock to us all, today as we speak, 9 cosmonauts orbit the world above us. We have had several flights of our new Soyuz capsule while the American’s have yet to launch a manned Apollo. We are on track to beat the American’s to the moon and will demonstrate to the world that it is the Soviet Union who is the first nation of space. The Soviet Union is in an excellent position to move forward into the next decade as a strong and prosperous nation. But we cannot rest, the west has also experienced strong economic growth and without continued dedication on our part we cannot hope to prevail.” 

Petyr begins to lay out his plans for the next 5 years working to improve living conditions throughout the Soviet Union. By now Petyr had developed a philosophy that he called “Communism through prosperity”, his view was that the only way that true Communism could ever be obtained is in a world of plenty, without that, greed and corruption would always distort its true nature.

Over the course of Petyr’s first 5 year plan, economic growth remained around 6% per year, similar to the growth rates experienced under Kruschev, Industrial growth however dropped from 9% to 4%, but the quality and efficiency of existing output improved dramatically. Consumer goods output skyrocketed, and although many of these goods were exported abroad, the average citizen in Eastern Europe and Soviet Union began to see significant improvement in their access to consumer goods, including cars, TV’s and radios. 

Over the next 5 years Petyr would call for increased investments in industrial growth, R&D (both military and civilian), and continued attention towards improving the standard of living throughout the USSR.

Regarding the space program the following new programs are authorized

Lunar landing program was to be primary focus of Soviet space activities.

Improvements to the N-1 to improve payload capacity would be made.

Long lead development of the N-1M authorized.

LEK authorized.

Continued development of nuclear engines and rockets, including a commitment to flight tests

Continued development of large rocket engines including hydrogen fueled stages (mostly in conjunction with the N-1M).

Continued improvements to the Soyuz capsule and design.

Initial development of follow on manned spacecraft designs (among them the TKS ferry

Development and launch of the Almaz space station

Initial development of the MKBS space station

Yantar series of Spy satellites approved as well as higher resolution versions of the Zenit system.

Advanced early warning and electronic suvellence systems (Oko and Tselina)

Advanced Communications satellites such as the Molyna-2/3 and Raduga 

Improvements to automated and computerized systems 

December 11, 1967

The Soviet Union in conjunction with the Government of East Germany orders the easing of restrictions on movement between East and West Berlin. It would mark the beginning of the end for the Berlin Wall.

December 1967

Further information from the CIA indicates that N-1 has a lower payload capacity than the Saturn V, but higher launch thrust. However follow on versions of the N-1 with larger payload capacities are under development. Saturn studies continue with a definitive version to be selected by mid-late 1968. Development is to proceed at a moderate pace. In order support the development of improved Saturn’s engine development restarts on M-1 and AJ-260, and continues on the F-1A and HG-3. Nova development is deferred.

Note:

The F-1A was an improved version of the F-1 engine used on the first stage of the Saturn V. Design of the F-1A was completed but the program was cancelled prior to the completion of the first test engine (A partial prototype was built). The F-1A would have increased thrust to 1.8-2.0 million pounds and would have simplified and removed several systems that were deemed unnecessary.

The M-1 was a large hydrogen oxygen engine with 1.5-2.0 million pounds of thrust designed for use in large upper stages of the proposed Nova rocket and possibly to replace the 5 J-2 engines on the second stage of the Saturn V. The program ran until 1966 when it became clear that there was no need for such a large upper stage engine. 

The HG-3 was a high pressure engine, that while never built, would form the basis of the space shuttle main engine.

January 1968

Alexander Dubcek is elected the First Party Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. Due to Petyr’s reforms the economic recession in Czechoslovakia is not as severe, however public discontent in Novotny is still present including a general disapproval with his methods from Moscow.

January 20,1968 Tet Offensive begins at Khe San. The first wave is pushed back, but North Vietnamese forces deploy improved AA systems in large numbers for the first time. USAF re-supply operations to Khe San begin to take heavy losses. Intelligence analysis shows the AA systems to be front line Soviet equipment.

January 22, 1968

CIA discovers how extensive Soviet support of North Vietnam is, a number of advanced front line weapon systems have been shipped along with advisors and technical assistance to North Vietnam over the previous 6 months. As the seriousness of the situation regarding the Tet Offensive begins to grow, it becomes more obvious that the US has seriously underestimated the situation in North Vietnam. Although some suggest a blockade of North Vietnam, some analysts indicate that the Soviet Union would likely not back down. The presence of Soviet submarines escorting transports mean the situation would likely escalate.

January 24, 1968

The US ambassador files a formal protest with the UN concerning Soviet involvement in Vietnam. The Soviet’s respond that they have as much right to support their allies as the US does. They also state that the Soviet Union will not tolerate any attempts to interfere with their shipping or a blockade of North Vietnam.

January 30, 1968 North Vietnamese Forces take Hill 881 at Khe San.

Note: In OTL this attack was repulsed by US forces on Feb 5 with a heavy artillery barrage, in this ATL, disruption of supply to Khe San means that the US forces begin to suffer supply problems and begin to run short artillery shells.

January 31, 1968

Vietcong forces enter the US Embassy in Saigon and kill the defending marines. They hold the remaining personnel hostage for almost a month before US forces storm the Embassy. Most of the embassy personnel are killed. 

Note: In OTL the Vietcong forces were unable to breech the doors of the Embassy using a small anti-tank weapon. They were held at bay by marines in the courtyard until reinforcements showed up. In this ATL supplies (more rockets and explosives) from the Soviets they manage to breech the doors and take the Embassy.

January 31, 1968 – February 5, 1968

USAF begins a series of massive air strikes on NVA positions surrounding Khe San. Disaster strikes on the 3 rd when an off target bomb falls within the US perimeter. Numerous soldiers killed and several artillery pieces are destroyed.

February 4, 1968

Central Committee issues a decree “On the improvement of the N-1 launch vehicle” authorizing Korolev’s plan for the development of the N-1F and the N-1U to address a number of failings discovered during the test flights of the N-1. The N-1F will incorporate a number of improvements to the design and be ready for first flight in 1970. The N-1U will incorporate some minor improvements into the N-1’s currently under construction and be ready for flight by the end of the year.

February 6, 1968

The combination of supply problems and the February 3 rd accident lead US commanders on the ground to conclude that Khe San is untenable, and will likely fall before large scale ground reinforcements can arrive.

They order US troops to withdraw.

February 12, 1968

NVA forces overrun Khe San.

Note: The Tet offensive is far more embarrassing than it was OTL giving more support to the anti-war movement. It is however a double edged sword, although the Tet Offensive is initially more successful it is still rapidly put down by US and South Vietnamese forces. Due to the greater amount of supplies and personnel committed the losses experienced by the North are far more severe. 

March 16,1968

Robert F. Kennedy announces his intentions to run for the Presidency. His stance against the war in Vietnam increases his popular support 

April 4, 1968 

Martin Luther King Assassinated

April 15, 1968

Soyuz 8,9 (Kontakt) Flight. Successful test of the docking system to be used during the Soviet Lunar Landings.

May 5, 1968

PRIME 6 (SV-5D Vehicle 4) is launched from KSC testing a Rene 51/Titanium heat shield on a low cross range mission. Heat shield performs extremely well indicating that it could be reused for another mission. Planners decide to schedule an additional flight in order test the reusability of the heat shield.

May 29, 1968

Long lead work on SA 518-520 is authorized. So far planned missions are

SA 516, SA 517 Apollo Applications Dry Labs

SA 518, SA 519 Voyager Mars Orbiter/Lander 1973, 1975 missions

SA 520 Apollo Applications Lunar Orbital Survey

June 2, 1968

Congress approves development of an improved Saturn V to be called the Saturn VB. NASA selects the MLV-V-3 variant since it provides the greatest capability for future upgrades (It is also an in house design). Alternate designs such as the V-D are dismissed as too ambitious while the MLV-V-23(L) would require the development of expensive liquid boosters. First flight is scheduled for 1973. Construction of the standard Saturn V is halted at SA 520.

June 5, 1968

Robert F Kennedy assassinated 

June 23, 1968

PRIME 6A (SV-D Vehicle 4) is launched from KSC, testing the reuse of the Rene 51/Titanium heat shield used on PRIME 6. Vehicle is recovered in the Pacific. Mission is a complete success. Post flight analysis indicates that this type of heat shield could be used multiple times.

June 24- July 2, 1968

Tonkin Crisis

A USAF Air patrol over the Tonkin Gulf conducts a close inspection flyby of a Soviet flagged transport ship. The crew of the transport panics and begins to fire upon the American aircraft. The US aircraft responds by firing warning shots across the ships bow. Suddenly a large fire erupts on board the ship, the cause of which is unknown to this day. The accepted cause seems to indicate that a stray bullet from the American aircraft or a hot expended shell from the transports AA guns ignited a fuel container on the deck of the ship (Depending on whose history book you are reading). Within a matter of minutes the large cargo of weapons on the transport cooks off, destroying the ship in a massive explosion. 

Immediately fingers are pointed at both sides. The American’s claim that they were fired upon, the Soviets that they were subject of an unprovoked attack. Soviet surface vessels and submarines sortie from Vladivostok and demand that the US stay outside an unreasonably large perimeter from any Soviet flagged vessels or be fired upon. The US asserts its rights to the use of international waters. Within days the situation rapidly escalates with forces on both sides going to high alert. Not since the Cuban Missile Crisis had the world come so close to the brink of war. Numerous long hotline calls between Petyr Androv and President Johnson over the next several days cool the situation, the US agrees to stop the close inspection flybys and the Soviets agree to disarm its transports. 

The Tonkin Crisis would have a far-reaching impact over the course of the war in Vietnam. Many on both sides began to come to the conclusion that even fighting these “proxy wars” over small third world countries, could rapidly spiral out of control and lead to a much greater conflict between the super powers. With the situation in Vietnam looking like it will drag on for years, only two viable options remain, the US must escalate its involvement if it is to be victorious and run the risk of direct conflict with the Soviet Union, or abandon Vietnam as a lost cause, a clearly unacceptable outcome. The first tentative feelers for peace start from both the American’s and the Soviets to come to a solution amenable to all. Historians would later show that this event was an important contributor to the future relationship between the US and USSR that would eventually be termed “Orbital Détente”.

July 9, 1968

NASA awards contracts to Boeing (S-ID), North American(S-IIB), McDonell Douglas (S-IVC) , IBM (IU), Rocketdyne (F-1A), and Areojet (M-1A) for development of the Saturn VB booster.

July 10, 1968

In order to focus on achieving a manned lunar landing before the USSR, Webb orders that all Apollo Application flights will be deferred until the first few manned landings have been accomplished. The Wet Lab missions are pushed out to late 1970 early 1971.

August 21, 1968

Petyr Androv visits Czechoslovakia where he hails Alexander Dubcek’s reforms as an important step in the future of Communism and compares them favorably to the changes he has put into place within the USSR. Here Petyr says one of his famous lines “Some think that the revolution ended in 1917, but the revolution is never ending. We must change and grow as the world changes and grows with us”. A picture of the two embracing later becomes a symbol of the changing nature of the Soviet Union. Later the two would call for solidarity across the Warsaw Pact.

Note: Since Petyr’s philosophies of “Communism through Prosperity” were very close to Dubcek’s “Socialism with a human face”. The two see each other as friends and allies of a similar mind. Prague Spring never takes place.

August 25, 1968

US and Soviet Negotiators meet in secret in Paris to discuss the situation in Vietnam. After the Tokin Crisis and the rapidly escalating costs on both sides, the US and Soviet Union are eager to disengage. Both sides put considerable pressure on North and South Vietnam to come to the table.

August 27 1968

Democratic National Convention, riots and demonstrations are larger than OTL due to the worsening situation in Vietnam. 

September 18, 1968

Soyuz 10,11 (Kontakt) Flight, LK docking test using Soyuz vehicles

October 1968

Since NASA is not suffering from the OTL budget cuts, Webb doesn't have his argument with President Johnson over funding and does not resign over what he saw was a lack of support for NASA. Additionally with the success of the Soyuz and N-1 flights he isn't grilled as harshly over the Apollo 1 fire as he was OTL. 

Oct 30, 1968

NASA announces an RFP for the ILRV program (Shuttle Phase A)

November 5, 1968

First unmanned test flight of the Soviet LK lunar lander in LEO.

Late 1968

NASA as awards SSME study contracts to Pratt and Whitney, RocketDyne and Areojet.

(Note: In OTL Areojet did not participate in the initial SSME study. In this ATL since the M-1 program was never cancelled in 1966, Areojet is in a much better position to compete for the study). The design draws on work being completed under the HG-3 engine being baselined to replace the J-2 in the second and third stages of the Saturn VB. 

November 5, 1968

Richard Nixon is elected president of the United States, Spiro Agnew as Vice President

As is tradition, James Webb tenders his resignation, however Nixon asks him to remain on as NASA administrator. 

Note: In OTL Nixon was critical of NASA "pork barrel" spending and as the importance of the space race began to fade, decisions concerning space policy were left to members of the administration and OMB who were concerned about uncontrolled spending and unconstrained growth in NASA's budget. As well the class of '68 brought a new group of Senators and house members who had campaigned on solving more immediate earthly concerns. The combination of these factors put increasing downward pressure on NASA's budget. In the ATL with the recent Tonkin incident and Soviet space accomplishments, concerns about maintaining U.S. preeminence are much more prominent in the public consciousness with many politicians publically indicating their support for NASA during the campaign.

November 4, 1968

The first round of the Paris Peace talks takes place with the United States, Soviet Union, North and South Vietnam participating.

December 6, 1968

Launch of Lunar-1 the first manned circumlunar (flyby) flight by the Soviet Union. The event is widely publicized as a tremendous milestone in human development. Although only a flyby mission it steals much of the thunder of the upcoming Apollo 8 lunar orbital mission.

The front page of this weeks Time magazine contains a picture of a red moon and the caption “Are we loosing?”

December 11, 1968

First flight of the N-1U

December 21, 1968

Apollo 8, first manned lunar orbit mission 

The front page of this weeks Time magazine contains a picture of a red white and blue moon and the caption “Are we winning?”

December of 1968 would be a key period in the Space Race as the USA and the USSR took the first manned trips to the moon. Space missions and speculation were lead news stories for weeks on end, displacing Vietnam and race riots as topics of discussion. As Walter Cronkite would say during one of his newscasts, “Over the next few months NASA has planned an unprecedented number of manned space missions; we can only assume that the Soviets are doing the same. It appears that we are in the final lap in this race to the Moon and it will be a close finish.

January 1969

As his first official act of office Nixon begins to withdraw troops from Vietnam. With the scaling back of operations, orders for military hardware start to dry up, many military contractors begin to turn to the space program in order to supplement their revenues adding additional support to the pro-space political lobby. 

Note: This would have a significant impact on the recession of 1969-1970. The Federal Reserve had been forced to ease monetary policy in order to finance the Vietnam War without raising taxes. Between March 1968 and August 1969 the Federal Funds rate increased from 5% to 9.25%. With the easing of the Vietnam war and spending reductions in this ATL the Federal Funds rate remains below 7%. NASA funding does increase but the decrease in Defense spending more than makes up for it. As a result the recession of 1969-1970 does not occur, although it is a period of slow growth and unemployment rates increase.

As is tradition, James Webb tenders his resignation, however Nixon asks him to remain on as NASA administrator

January 8, 1969

Lunar 2, second Soviet circumlunar

Feb, 1969

NASA awards study contracts to Lockheed, General Dynamics, Rockwell and, McDonell Douglas for Phase A shuttle studies. Martin Marietta participates using its own money.

Henry Kissinger is appointed as United States National Security Advisor. He is placed in charge of the Paris Peace talks

February 1, 1969

AJ-260-2 SL-4 is tested at the Areojet facility in Florida. It is the largest motor firing to date. The monolithic half-length 260" SRB produces over 3 million pounds of thrust before excessive wear in the casing causes the nozzle to fail. SL-4 is the first AJ-260 to use a fiberglass casing, considerably lighter and cheaper compared to the steel casings used on SL-1 to SL-3 motors.

Note: In the OTL the AJ-260 program was terminated before the 4 th planned test. SL-3 still remains the largest rocket engine of any type ever fired.

February 3, 1969

Soyuz 12 Flight -  First physician in space . A record setting 17-day long duration flight to measure human adaptation to zero G.  V arious physical and biological experiments are conducted. To this day it continues to hold the record for a non-space station manned flight.

February 7, 1969

NASA lays out plans for a second phase of lunar exploration once the initial series of lunar landings is completed with Apollo 20. These long duration 14-28 day missions will involve dual launches of the Saturn VB, the first landing a lunar shelter for use by the astronauts on the surface, and a second conveying the astronauts to and from the lunar surface in a lunar taxi. Both the shelter and taxi are derived from the lunar module. 

February 13, 1969

President Nixon issues a memorandum calling for the formation of the Space Task Group. The purpose of this group is to make recommendations  concerning post Apollo programs and report back within 6 months.

Nixon also announces Dr. Simon Ramo as his nomination for NASA administrator.

Note: In the OTL Webb’s resignation in 1968 made Thomas O. Paine acting administrator of NASA. While Nixon did offer the position to several individuals (Including Simon Ramo, the R in TRW and described as “the architect of the Thor, Atlas and Titan” rockets), everyone refused mainly due to lack of support for ongoing activities and uncertainty about NASA’s future. As a result Thomas Paine was nominated and confirmed as NASA administrator, a Democrat in a Republican administration with little political savvy and experience. In this timeline, opportunities abound, making the position far more appealing. 

March 1, 1969

Dr. Simon Ramo is confirmed as NASA Administrator.

March 27, 1969

Lunar 3 Flight, launch of the first Soviet lunar orbit mission and first manned flight of the N-1.

April 1969

After months of North and South Vietnam bickering over the shape of the table in which to conduct negotiations, The United States and Soviet Union threaten to hold separate talks concerning the future of Vietnam. 

April 7,1969

PRIME 7 (SV-5D Vehicle 4) is launched from KSC testing a LI-1500 silica based tile heat shield. Problems with the tile adhesive cause numerous delays. During flight a tile is lost causing serious structural damage and a proposed flight to test the reusability of a silica tile heat shield is canceled.

May 23, 1969 

Areojet is awarded a contract to construct and test fire 4 full length versions of the AJ-260, the fiberglass casing as demonstrated in SL-4 will be used.

June 2, 1969 

The Phoebus 2B reactor exceeds 5,000MWduring several test runs 

June 10, 1969

Secretary of Defense Laird confirms the Nixon’s administration’s support of the Air Force MOL program.

Note: The MOL was originally cancelled on this day

July 20, 1969

Apollo 11 lands on the moon at the Sea of Tranquility. Neil Armstrong is the first person to walk on the moon.

July 22, 1969 

AJ-260-2 SL-5 is test fired. It incorporates some improvements over the SL-4 design. The test is a complete success, achieving full duration and almost 4 million pounds of thrust.

August 2nd, 1969

NASA awards $2 million in study contracts for the Saturn II. With such a large gap in payload between the Saturn IB and the Saturn V, NASA needs a low cost modular launcher that can be assembled to provide various payload capacities. The study is restricted to using existing Saturn stages and the AJ-260 in order to minimize development costs. The objective of the study is to economically supply NASA's medium lift needs required for space station and planetary missions over the coming decade, until the proposed shuttle becomes operational.

August 19, 1969

L3-2 “Luna 4” lands on the moon at the Ocean of Storms. Viktor Vassilyevich Gorbatko becomes the first Soviet citizen to walk on the moon.

September 1969

The Space Task Group report is released making a series of recommendations concerning existing and future programs. Near term is recommends the continuation of the current planned lunar missions (up to and including Apollo 20), 5 long duration lunar expeditions, and the wet lab and dry lab missions. Long term is recommends 3 future alternative programs. Option I would represent a substantial increase in space activity with immediate commitments to establishing a lunar base, the development of the space shuttle, construction of a 50 person space station and a manned Mars landing in 1982. Option II would maintain the current pace of space investment, with expansion of lunar activities, the development of the space shuttle, a series of space stations, investments toward long lead technology development but no firm commitment to a Mars landing. Option III would maintain existing programs but significantly ramp down new programs with ongoing lunar exploration and space stations, but no space shuttle. 

Note: This is largely similar to the actual STG report with the 3 options being presented, however the geo-political and economic situation was very different and eventually all of the recommendations were rejected with only the space shuttle to be followed by a space station ever making it off the drawing board. In this ATL the situation is very different and with the politically astute Ramo as NASA administrator the complicated series of negotiations and maneuvering that led to the final STG report and more importantly the FY1971 budget puts the US on a much larger sustained space program.

September 12, 1969

NASA awards two $2.9 million dollar study contracts to McDonell Douglas and North American Rockwell for advanced space station concepts, including a 12-man station and 50-man space base.

September 23, 1969

President Nixon decides to place the American SST program on hold. The cost of the program continues to grow and serious questions are being raised about the economic viability and environmental impact of the SST. It is decided that more basic research and development is required before the nation can commit to building a Supersonic Transport.

Oct 1969

NASA begins to investigate the possibility of upgrading LM 14 and 15 for a 5-day mission. Since batteries would be too heavy for such a mission, debate rages between modifying the LM to use solar power or fuel cells. Ultimately the fuel cell option is chosen since modifications to the oxygen tanks and other plumbing in the LM will have to be made to support the 5-day mission and fuel cells would be required for any future Apollo Extended Lunar Surface Missions.

November 1, 1969

First attempt by China to launch an earth orbiting satellite ends in failure.

November 14, 1969

Launch of the Apollo 12 mission to the Ocean of Storms, less than 25 km from the Soviet landing site.

December 19, 1969 

The first Paris Peace Accords, the US and Soviet Union agree to withdraw all troops and advisors from South and North Vietnam. They will cease supplying war material to both South and North Vietnam. The Vietnam situation is to be considered an internal problem to be resolved by the Vietnamese. A joint US, Soviet negotiation team work with the Vietnamese to resolve their conflicts.

January 11, 1970

Launch of the Luna-5 mission to the Sea of Fecundity.

January 16, 1970

As a result of the Saturn II studies, NASA decides to push forward with developing a short term replacement for the Saturn IB. Three versions are recommended to meet NASA’s needs for the coming decade. The first two designs will use the S-IVC stage being developed for the Saturn VB and an Areojet AJ-260 full length or half length solid motor. The third would use a combination of the S-ID, and S-IIB stages. They are designated Saturn II light, medium and heavy.

February, 1970

Nixon forwards his FY1971 budget to congress. Included is a 5.9 billion request for NASA and endorsement of option II of the STG report. 

Febuary 1970

April 11, 1970

Launch of Apollo 13, oxygen tank explodes enroute to the moon preventing a lunar landing. Crew is recovered safely.

April 24, 1970

First successful launch of a satellite by China.

March 7, 1970

Launch of the Almaz-1 station. It suffers from a number of serious failures shortly after arriving in orbit. The station re-enters 6 days later.

March 11, 1970

Soyuz 16 is launched to the Almaz-1 station, station attitude control problems prevent docking and the mission lands 3 days later.

June-July 1970

NASA gives go ahead for upgrades to LM 14 and 15 creating the ‘K’ class lunar missions. Major upgrades include adding fuel cells to the decent stage, engine improvements and greater landed payload. Congress approves funding for the Apollo Applications Extended Lunar Surface Missions. Plans call for 5, 14 day missions starting in 1974. The goal is to beat the Soviets who are planning long duration missions (LEK) of their own.

NASA decides to reorganize Apollo Applications into two separate programs, one focusing on the moon to be called Apollo Lunar Applications and the second to focus on orbital operations and space stations to be called Apollo Orbital Applications.

Congress approves development of the light and medium versions of the Saturn II, they will fulfill the nations medium lift requirements until the Shuttle (if approved) is ready. No money is approved for development of the heavy version and production of the existing Saturn IB is capped at 20.

The NERVA flight program is also approved, authorizing 4 flights (2 unmanned, 2 manned) to test the NERVA-II nuclear rocket engine under space conditions. First flights are planned for late 1974.

Long duration lunar missions are also approved using dual Saturn VB launches. Funds for the fit out of the Vehicle Assembly Building (high bay 4) and the Launch Control Center (firing room 4) are appropriated. 

July 6, 1970

NASA awards phase B contracts to McDonnell Douglas/Martin Marietta and Rockwell/General Dynamics.

NASA awards ASSC (Alternative Space Shuttle Concepts) contracts to Chrysler and Lockheed.

June 3, 1970

Luna-6 mission launched to the Sea of Showers

June 29, 1970 

NASA awards North American Rockwell contracts for the procurement of 13 additional block II Apollo CSM’s in support of the Apollo Orbital Applications Program (later increased to 17) and development and procurement of 16 Block III Apollo Command Modules (12 flight articles, 1 orbital test article, 2 drop test articles and 1 ground test article) . Changes over the Block II include the following

\-  Increased capability to support 3 Astronauts for up to 30 days (2 astronauts for 45 days)

\-  Cold soak mode allowing unmanned operations for up to 180 days

\-  Improved Apollo Guidance Computer

\-  Improved remote control and telemetry capabilities (to support cold soak)

\-  Strengthened docking collar ring to support payloads of up to 30,000 kg

\-  Cloverleaf based landing system with retro rockets in risers enabling ground landings

\-  Two gas (70% Oxygen, 30% Nitrogen) system installed

\-  Molecular Sieve CO2 removal system

\-  Improved component modularity.

\-  Provisions for 5 man earth orbit flights (3 days)

\-  Provisions for CM reuse

o  Main heatshield designed to be replaced

o  Ablative central heatshield replaced with reusable metallic heatshield

o  Internal equipment arrangement changes to allow increase component modularity for swap out. 

Two SM variants were also authorized for use with the block III CM’s

\-  The Half Length SM was designed for docked earth orbit missions (in this configuration 5 astronauts could be supported for 3 days, sufficient to dock with an orbiting space station)

\-  The Extended length added a 2 foot extension allowing 3000 lbs of additional fuel for the main engine allowing larger payloads to be inserted into lunar orbit, the consumables required support longer flight durations, an additional fuel cell, and additional RCS propellant. 

Note: One of the most significant changes was that of ground landing. This was based on the early successes that the MOL program had with using a Parasail in Blue-Gemini spacecraft. In addition early post-flight analysis of previously flown Apollo CM’s showed that aside from salt water contamination, most systems had fared quite well and with a modest refurbishment could be re-flown. By allowing the CM to make a ground landing it would be possible to refurbish a CM 2-3 times and reduce the support costs required for Naval recovery options (this requirement would not be completely eliminated since alternate landing areas would still need to be supported).

July 11, 1970

First static test firing of the F-1A engine, over the next few months the engine would reach designed thrust levels of 2 million pounds. 

August 15, 1970

NASA awards contracts to Areojet and McDonell Douglas for development and production of the Saturn II. 

August 23, 1970

NASA extends its Space Station study contracts.

September 19, 1970

Apollo AAP-1A, first Apollo Application mission, is launched. It is a 14-day low earth orbit survey of the planet Earth.

October 16-20, 1970

Representatives from 15 European nations gather to discuss the future of European space efforts, the disastrous failure of the Europa launcher and British plans to pull out of the program in the face of the tremendous success of the US and Soviet manned lunar programs, demonstrate the need for a serious reorganization of the European space program. Japan and Canada attend as observers. Over the next year a number of conferences are held to determine the structure of a future European Space Agency, Japan becomes increasingly interested in partnering with Europe.

October 22, 1970

USRAM is awarded the design contract for the Nuclear Assembly Building (NAB) at the Kennedy Space Center in support of the NERVA flight test program. The building will consist of 2 high bays for the checkout and fueling of nuclear rocket stages and two low bays used for checkout and fueling of nuclear power reactors being planned for future missions. 

November 3, 1970

Unmanned launch of the LK backup for the Lunar 7 mission fails when the N-1 explodes 62 seconds into flight

December 18, 1970

First launch of the Titan-3M booster along with an unmanned prototype of the MOL station. 

May 1971-Early 1972

OMB reports that NASA can expect no more than $8 billion for development of the Shuttle ($2 billion less than expected). Based on Rand and Aerospace Company reports the OMB feels that any cost overruns or drop in vehicle performance could easily wipe out any of the cost benefits the shuttle was to provide. A lower cap was to be instituted to help preserve these cost benefits. In addition many in Congress and the Nixon administration were starting to feel that NASA was trying to turn the Shuttle into a Christmas list of new and unnecessary technology, the message coming out of the Capitol was that the shuttle was to provide an economic means into and out of space and not a showcase of bleeding edge technology. Those technologies could be developed in later, in separately funded X projects. Strong indications that anything more than what was required would not be authorized. The Nixon Administration re-iterates to NASA that it expects the Shuttle to be the "space truck" that NASA is selling the project as. NASA and the Air Force are pressured to reach a consensus on the Shuttle’s overall requirements. To be economical the Shuttle will have to serve the bulk of the nations launch needs. To emphasize this, no development of further expendable launchers would be authorized unless such vehicles provided a clear capability that the Shuttle could not provide. A showdown between NASA and the Air Force would ensue. The Air Force would not back down on any of its requirements and was unwilling to commit funds to the Shuttle. NASA would not design the Shuttle to the Air Forces excessive requirements if would not help fund the program. After much negotiating and pressure from the Vice President, a compromise is eventually reached. NASA will develop a Shuttle based on the Lockheed ASSC concept with a payload capacity of 65,000 pounds due east LEO (As required by the Air Force). Although not a fully reusable design (having an expendable tank), the vehicle could be modified to one at a later date. Initial operating capability could be reached without the need to develop a large reusable booster, reducing development costs to within the $8 billion cap. The design would still however retain most of the cost saving benefits of the Shuttle. NASA also offers the Air Force a choice concerning cross-range. Either the Shuttle will be built using a titanium structure giving the Air Force its required cross range capability, or the Shuttle would be built using an aluminum structure, but without the cross-range capability, of course the Air Force could develop a more advanced thermal protection system at their own expense to allow high cross-range missions. Eventually the Air Force would remove its objections to a titanium Shuttle. NASA conducts a number of in house designs on variations of the Lockheed concept and after a number of iterations the MSC-040 design appears. 

In parallel with the discussions on the shuttle, NASA's future space station plans would also undergo serious scrutiny from the administration and OMB. Up until now the goals of the future Space Station and Apollo Orbital Applications program had been vague and open-ended; many felt that a definitive plan was required. NASA had largely been selling the Station and the Shuttle as a package deal, after all without the a Shuttle, supplying the space station would be prohibitively expensive, and without the Shuttles

down mass capability (ability to return payloads to the ground), utilization of the station would be hampered. Without a Station it would be difficult to generate a sufficient flight rate to obtain the cost savings that the Shuttle was to provide. Many of NASA's opponents characterized this as a circular argument and that neither program should be approved. However the combination of Soviet progress with its own space station, the success of the first orbital workshop wet lab mission, and the winding down of most of NASA's big R&D programs (and the accompanying loss of jobs), generated enough support in Congress and the Administration to proceed with both programs. The final blueprint for the program called for the development of 2 standardized modules; a 4m Space Station lab module that would fit inside

the Shuttle cargo bay and a 10m core module that would be launched by the Saturn V. Each of them would be capable of being outfitted in a variety of configurations for different tasks. These modules could also provide the foundation for potential future manned planetary mission habitation modules and lunar base modules; however development of these missions were not approved.

Note: In OTL between 1970 and 1972 NASA conducted a number of internal design studies on the space shuttle. As the purse strings for the shuttle began to tighten, these designs became less and less ambitious. By May 1971 the Shuttle had emerged in a somewhat recognizable form, based loosely on the Grumman ASSC proposal, the Shuttle would have used a large solid booster (effectively what would become the lower part of the ET), with the main hydrogen tank on top. Oxygen tanks would remain internal to the Shuttle. Eventually both tanks would be made external and the large solid booster would become two smaller boosters on either side of the tank, this would become the MSC-040C design, which is almost identical to the shuttle as she was built. In this ATL the purse strings are not as tight and the Lockheed design is focused on instead. In my opinion the Lockheed LS-200 and LS-400 was a more flexible design, it was a pseudo-SSTO design using two expendable drop tanks, and could be converted into a fully reusable design by adding a booster. In this timeline the Lockheed LS-200 becomes the basis of the MSC 040 design rather that the Grumman proposal. Air Force requirements were also a major concern, NASA was having a hard time convincing Congress to fund the Shuttle and only by gaining the support of the Air Force could NASA hope to get the Shuttle approved. The requirements that the Air Force wanted were instrumental in defining the final appearance of the Shuttle. The most important requirement was a 40,000 pound once around polar orbit mission, in this mission the Shuttle would launch into a polar orbit, deploy or retrieve a satellite and land immediately completing only a single orbit. Such a payload was much larger than NASA was planning for, a 40,000 pound payload to a polar orbit equated to a 65,000 pound due east launch, this at a time when NASA was considering a 15,000 - 25,000 pound due east launch capacity. Another problem with the once around mission was the requirement for a large cross range capability, since the earth rotates while the shuttle is in orbit, a once around mission would require the shuttle to maneuver between 1000-1400 miles eastward in order to land at the launch point. Such a high cross range made tremendous demands on the thermal protection system since these maneuvers would have to take place in the upper atmosphere. This thermal problem was compounded by the Air Force insistence that NASA not use titanium for the structure of the shuttle. The Air Force felt that in the coming decade, the construction of F-15's and B-1 bombers would require a large portion of the nation’s supply of titanium and did not want to have to compete with the shuttle. As a result NASA was pressured to use aluminum instead. Unfortunately aluminum was not as heat resistant as titanium requiring a more extensive thermal protection system. While a metallic heat shield would have been sufficient for a titanium shuttle with a high cross range, it was not for an aluminum shuttle. This left only two alternatives a replaceable ablator (either applied in tiles or sprayed onto the shuttle structure) or ceramic based tiles. The familiar tiles were eventually chosen due to demonstrated difficulties in removing used ablator discovered during the PRIME and X-15 program. The tiles however had their own problems due to their need for water proofing after every flight, and their extreme fragility. In this ATL NASA's position isn't nearly as weak as it was in OTL and they are able to take a stronger position against the Air Forces demands and work towards a compromise. Problems encountered during the ATL PRIME program shows NASA that silica based tiles are not mature enough to be used on the shuttle. Combined with increased funding, the shuttle in this ATL is much more capable of reaching the flight rates and flight costs than the shuttle we have today.

January 31, 1971

Launch of the Apollo 14 mission to Fra Mauro

March 7, 1971

Launch of Apollo AAP-1, NASA’s first space station mission. It would dock with the orbital workshop launched 3 days later, convert the empty S-IVB stage into an orbiting lab and conduct a number of medical and engineering experiments during its 26-day mission.

March 8, 1971

Changes to long duration lunar missions call for the development of the CMA (Command Module Analogue). In order to fly the long duration mission, two Saturn V launches were required. The first would land the Lunar Shelter on the surface of the moon, followed by the second launch, which would use the Lunar Taxi to land astronauts onto the surface for up to 14 days. Initially both launches were to be manned with the first crew remotely landing the Shelter on the surface and remaining in lunar orbit for several days. With the success of the LM automated landing system on Apollo 14 and the planned dedicated orbital survey missions, the need to have astronauts in lunar orbit was not viewed as critical. As well, post Apollo 13 convinced many that the risk/reward of having a manned ferry crew was insufficient. Internal studies showed that by using an unmanned, stripped down CM, with only the minimal systems required to support the SM and Lunar Shelter, landed payload could be increased by almost 2000kg. This would add additional safety margins to the Lunar Shelter, allow a greater scientific payload to be carried, and potentially allow longer missions and reduce the mission cost. Changes to the North American Rockwell contract are made to develop the Command Module Analogue. This would also free up 7 additional Block III CM’s that would be reassigned to Lunar Survey and NERVA missions. 

March 7, 1971

Apollo AAP-2, unmanned launch of the orbital workshop (wet lab)

Note: Initial plans for the first US space station involved retrofitting the upper stage of a used Saturn IB. Since the upper stage was required to put the Saturn IB into orbit it would be filled with fuel (hence the term wet lab). Once in orbit, any remaining fuel was vented, the fuel tanks pressurized with air and the station was made ready for human habitation. The reason this method was chosen over the dry lab concept (at least in the beginning) was that all Saturn V’s were currently earmarked for lunar landings and none could be spared to launch a space station. When Apollo 15, 19 and 20 were cancelled extra Saturn V’s became available. This combined with the budget cuts that had delayed the station (original plans were for a launch in 1968) there was no longer any reason to use the wet lab concept. In this ATL Lunar Missions are progressing at a rapid pace and there will be no Saturn V’s available for the Apollo Applications until 1973.

March 30, 1971

Launch of the Apollo 15 mission to Crater Censourious. It is the final J class mission

Note: In OTL this was the first H class mission as the original J class Apollo 15 mission had been cancelled and the remaining flight renumbered.

May 24, 1971

First flight of the N-1F, it incorporates a number of improvements over the N-1U to improve reliability and payload

June 1, 1971

The Military-Industrial Commission (VPK) issues a decree 'On Carrying out Work on Reusable Space Systems’ in response to NASA's proposed Space Shuttle program.

Note: In the OTL this decree was issued in December 1971, however in the ATL the Space Race is much hotter, having just barely lost the race to the moon the Soviet Union is much more eager to ensure that the US does not score another important victory in space.

June 7, 1971

Second launch of an unmanned MOL station. MOL-2 is a complete success and paves the way for future manned flights.

June 21, 1971

Apollo AAP-3A, Orbital workshop utilization flight. Crew conducts numerous experiments during its 56-day mission.

July 13, 1971

The SSME contract is signed with Rocketdyne, it is worth $598 million dollars and calls for the development of a 550,000 pound thrust, reusable engine. Two versions will be developed both using a common head assembly. A fixed nozzle engine and an extendable nozzle engine. Within months the engine thrust would be increased to 575,000 pounds to compensate for weight creep in the orbiters design.

Note: This occurred in the OTL, however Pratt and Whitney would protest this award to the GAO resulting in a 13 month delay in signing the final contract. In the OTL budget cuts meant that the shuttle was looking to be the only game in town and many aerospace companies were jockeying for the lucrative contracts. In the ATL several programs are in progress and in planning giving contract losers plenty of alternatives. 

July 21, 1971

Launch of the Luna-7 mission to Alpes Valley. It is the first flight of an improved LK allowing up to a two-day stay on the moon and expeditions to higher latitudes. (The initial LK flights were restricted to at or near the lunar equator)

August 1971

NASA extends the phase B contract (B’) and orders the 4 contractors (Rockwell, McDonnell Douglas, Grumman/Boeing, and Lockeed) to re-evaluate their concepts based on the MSC-040 design. NASA decides to drop the requirement for integral jet engines, deciding that the cost, complexity and weight penalties of adding jet engines are not worth the minor improvement in safety. However the proposed Shuttle design will be too large and heavy for any existing aircraft to ferry around or conduct landing tests. Some designs for large carrier aircraft are briefly studied but the excessive expense of building such an aircraft along with the inability for such a craft to land at most airports, quickly kill the idea. NASA instead plans to build a jet engine module can be installed in the Shuttle’s payload bay to provide ferry capability. Potentially such a module could also be used on operational missions when payload space and weight requirements would allow the module to be carried.

Note: In our history several alternatives were evaluated before the then new 747 was selected as the Shuttle carrier aircraft. In this timeline the new shuttle baseline would be too large for the 747 (or any other existing aircraft to carry)

August 26, 1971

Launch of the Apollo 16 mission to the Descarte Highlands

September 2, 1971

Apollo AAP-3, manned flight to the orbital workshop (now named Skylab), during their mission they would attach the Apollo Telescope Mount to the station and make detailed observations of the Sun.

September 3, 1971

Apollo AAP-4, unmanned launch of the Apollo Telescope Mount (ATM) to the Skylab station.

September 23, 1971

Launch of Almaz-2 incorporating a number of improvements from lessons learned during the ill-fated Almaz-1. It will be the Soviet Union’s first successful space station

November 4, 1971

Richard Nixon announces to the nation that he has instructed NASA to begin full-scale development of the Space Shuttle.

November 29, 1971

Petyr Androv calls the Chief Designers and a number of military advisors to Moscow in order to brief him on the American Space Shuttle recently announced by President Nixon. The chief concerns presented focus on the planned flight rate of the Shuttle and its flexibility for carrying out potential military missions. Korolev would say “If this shuttle can achieve the flight rates and costs that they are proposing, then they will be able to flood the heavens with satellites and cosmonauts”. Petyr instructs the designers to come up with proposals for how the Soviet Union should respond to the US.

December 1, 1971

Apollo AAP-5, final flight to the first Skylab station. During its 56 days in orbit its crew makes numerous observations of the Sun and conducts experiments in engineering, long duration space flight and astronomy.

Dec 15, 1971

Shuttle phase C/D proposals submitted.

December 16, 1971

Launch of the Lunar 8 mission to Clavius Crater.

January 20, 1972

Launch of the Apollo 17 mission to Taurus Littrow

January 29, 1972

North and South Vietnam agree to a temporary ceasefire. After the withdrawal of American and Soviet support the civil war in Vietnam had largely become stalemated after some initial victories by the North.

Note: Ironically it was the Tet Offensive that would seriously undermine North Vietnam’s strength. With the additional supplies and equipment they were able to launch a more ambitious series of attacks and raids. These attacks were defeated as OTL all but eradicating the Viet Cong. Since more people and material was involved, more was lost. The viciousness and brutality of the attackers also virtually eliminated all public support for the North in throughout South Vietnam.

Feb 5, 1972

Construction of the Nuclear Assembly Building begins at the Kennedy Space Center

Feb 11, 1972

NASA awards the $3.984 Billion shuttle contract to Rockwell. Contract includes development and construction of a structural test article, a propulsion test article, a human factors mockup, a full shuttle test article (to be later converted to a flight vehicle) and 2 flight vehicles. Rockwell will ultimately subcontract a number of elements of the Shuttle, major contracts are as follows.

Gumman Corporation - Wing/Tail Assembly

Martin Marietta - Internal and External Tanks

Lockheed - Static and fatigue testing of orbiter structure

SSME - Rocketdyne

Vought - Thermal protection system

Note: In OTL these dates were slightly different. Phase C/D submissions were delayed from Dec 15, 1971 to June 1, 1972 while NASA made a number of decisions that would finalize the configuration. One decision concerned the use of Solid or Liquid boosters, Solids were eventually chosen since they were $700 million cheaper than liquid booster. Another decision was to ignite the Shuttle main engines at launch rather than after the SRBs separated. In this ATL these delays do not occur and the Shuttle contract is awarded earlier. In OTL NASA and Congress threw away an excellent opportunity to reduce the cost of access to space in the Shuttle. Congress cut funding back too much to build an effective shuttle and NASA, rather than re-evaluating the whole shuttle idea and adopt a less ambitious plan, decided to keep pushing forward, anything that would increase development costs was removed or cancelled, even if it increased operational costs. If NASA had decided to go with a smaller shuttle with less performance they might have achieved their goals, but the Air Force demanded the payload and cross-range capabilities, and NASA needed the Air Force’s support to get funding from Congress. It was a vicious cycle. You will also notice that the ATL shuttle contract includes an additional shuttle and human factors mockup. One of the original goals of the shuttle program was to make spaceflight routine. To improve turnaround times original plans called included integrated diagnostic systems and maintenance platforms (similar to commercial airliners), unfortunately these capabilities were deleted to save costs. 

February 11, 1972

Launch of the first manned USAF MOL mission (MOL-3), 30 day mission is a complete success.

Feb 21, 1972

NASA awards Lockheed the contract to develop and build the Jet Engine Ferry Module for the Space Shuttle.

March 2, 1972

NASA signs a partnership agreement with Pan-Am airlines whereby Pan-Am would provide experts to apply their expertise in airline operation to the development of the shuttle. In exchange NASA provides the largely symbolic “option” for Pan-Am to buy the first commercial shuttle. 

April 14, 1972

USAF announces that Kennedy Space Center and Vandenberg AFB had been selected as launch sites for the Space Shuttle.

April 15 ,  1972

Pan Am launches it’s “Fly the future” ad campaign, TV commercials show the coming future of passenger flight, included are pictures of a Concorde and Space Shuttle in Pan Am livery.

May 11, 1972 

EJSA – The European-Japanese Space Agency is formed. The initial 11 members are as follows

\-  France

\-  Italy

\-  Spain

\-  Belgium

\-  Denmark

\-  Netherlands

\-  Sweden

\-  Switzerland

\-  West Germany

\-  United Kingdom

\-  Japan

Eventually  Ireland, Austria, Norway, Finland, Portugal and Canada would also join. Three major programs are adopted by the members, the development of an indigenous man rated launch vehicle to be called Ariane, participation with NASA to develop a 4m space station module, and an advanced technology demonstrator to develop technologies for a future reusable vehicle.

May 11, 1972 

A Langley Flight Center proposal to build a mini shuttle to verify its hypersonic flight characteristics is authorized. It will be a piloted ¼ scale version of the shuttle air dropped from a B-52 and make use of left over engines from the X-15 program. This vehicle will be eventually designated the X-26

Note: This idea was originally proposed but during a period of tight budgets was dismissed as too expensive, even though Langley had a long history of being able to complete similar projects at very low costs. 

May 12, 1972

NASA awards the 10m space station module contracts to McDonell Douglas. 

May 14, 1927

Launch of Apollo AAP-6 a 14-day orbital mission carrying a X-ray telescope. Crew conducts a detailed X-ray survey of the sky.

May 17, 1972

Launch of the Apollo 18 mission to Schroders Valley. Harrison Schmitt is the first scientist to land on the moon. The mission is such a success that NASA decides to select additional astronauts with geological, geochemical and geophysical experience for future lunar missions.

Note: Harrison Schmitt was originally scheduled to fly on Apollo 18 in OTL, however with the cancellation of Apollo 18, considerable pressure was placed on NASA to fly at least one scientist to the moon and Schmitt was bumped up to Apollo 17.

May 18, 1972

Launch of the Lunar 9 mission to the Sea of Crises.

July, 1972

Nuclear Furnace 1 tests conducted at Jack Ass Flats to validate improved fuel element design for NERVA stage.

Note: As OTL

September 1972

Government decree (1245-467) 'On the Production of Various Launch Vehicles, Satellites, Spacecraft for the Military Space Forces in 1972-1980’ is issued, detailing Soviet plans for the coming decade. Included is wording calling for development of a reusable space system in order to maintain strategic parity with the American Space Shuttle. Key programs detailed in the decree include

\-  Advanced variants of the Yantar reconnaissance satellites

\-  Strella 1 and 2 military communications satellites

\-  Completion of the Raduga constellation

\-  Pirs 1 and 2 naval recon sat

\-  Tsyklon 3 Launch Vehicle (4100kg)

\-  Improved upper stages for the N-III

\-  Development of the N-IMV would be approved, the ultimate N-1 derived variant (It would later be cancelled in favor of Vulkan)

\-  Continued flights of the Almaz space stations

\-  First flight of the MKBS space station

\-  Development of lunar base using LEK derived hardware

\-  Initial flights of a nuclear powered upper stage

\-  Initial development of manned mars mission hardware approved.

September 7, 1972

Apollo AAP-7, orbital survey of deep space radio sources. Due to the extensive modifications required for this mission it flies with a crew of 2. 

October 24, 1972

President Nixon and  General Secretary Androv sign an agreement concerning “Cooperation in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space for Peaceful Purposes”. The end result of more than 2 years of negotiation calls for a series of 4 cooperative space missions starting in 1974 as follows. 

•  A joint Apollo-Soyuz rendezvous and docking mission using a shared mini-lab module to perform scientific experiments (scheduled for 1974)

•  A 1 week American visit to a Soviet space station (Scheduled for 1975)

•  A 1 week Soviet visit to an American space station (Schedule for 1975)

•  A joint American Soviet Lunar Expedition (Scheduled for 1976)

Note: On this date the Apollo-Soyuz agreement was signed paving the way for the Apollo-18/Soyuz-19 mission in July 1975. Although some proposals called for a mission using a small lab module, the winding down of the Apollo program only permitted the development of a smaller APAS-75 module and airlock. 

November 10, 1972

Launch of the Apollo 19 mission to Hadley-Apienne, it is the first K class mission allowing surface stays of 5 days. This mission also debuts the A7LC suit allowing some level of field repair required to support the additional EVA’s of the longer mission.

November 1972

Richard M. Nixon is re-elected president

December 1972

Modifications to VAB high bay 2 begin in order to support the Saturn VB program

Nuclear Furnace 2 tests are competed at Jack Ass Flats to verify fuel element design improvements for the NERVA upper stage.

Winter - Spring 1973

The Keldysh Commission and BKH Committee are convened to make the final design selection for the Soviet Space Shuttle or MKS (reusable space system). Numerous proposals are evaluated, among the more exotic a LACE augmented reusable N-1 first stage, however it is deemed to be unfeasible within the time and budget allowed. The military demands that the MKS as closely as possible duplicate the capabilities of the American shuttle. Outright duplication of the American design with its large number of reusable engines is determined to be impractical and beyond the current capability of the Soviet Union. The general aerodynamic shape of the American shuttle will be used with some modification, such as using only 3 engines. Two large expendable LH2/LOX boosters (designated the Block-T) will be used in place of the American shuttles large drop tank, with the option of making them reusable in the future. By moving much of the propulsion system into these boosters the design of the shuttle itself would be greatly simplified and a larger payload would be allowed. As work on these boosters progressed it became obvious that they could be assembled together in order to provide different launch capabilities on their own. Two Block-T boosters could be used to launch the MKS or an N-1 class payload. Eventually three versions would be developed and later produced. Groza would use a single Block-T with an upper stage and would have a payload of over 150,000-pounds to LEO. Energia would use 2 Block-T’s and deliver over 300,000 pounds to orbit. Finally the mammoth Vulkan would use 5 Block-T’s to launch payloads of just under 1 million pounds and would be the Soviet answer to the later US Nova booster. This realization would lead to the cancellation of the N-1MV and would ultimately replace the N-1 booster entirely.

Note: This decision to begin development of a Soviet Shuttle comes 14 months earlier than in the OTL.

January 9, 1973

Launch of the Apollo 20 mission to Crater Copernicus. This is the last of the initial series of Apollo landings and will be the last American manned mission to the moon for almost 2 years.

February 6, 1973

NASA awards Phase-A study contracts for the “Artemis Lunar Base”. Study calls for the development of a 6-man permanent lunar outpost. 

March 23, 1973

NERVA containment test is completed at Jack Ass Flats to address concerns about radioactive contamination in the event of a booster failure. A NERVA containment vessel and its emergency escape rockets are tested by detonating a simulated S-ID and S-IIB stage underneath the test article. The containment vessel is recovered intact with minimal damage. 

The results of this test along with the Nuclear Furnace 1 and 2 runs confirm the final design configuration for the NERVA upper stage to be used in the RIFT program starting in 1975. Although improvements significantly reduce fuel element cracking and erosion, engineers are unable to completely solve the problem resulting in an executive order restricting the use of the NERVA engine to in space only. 

NOTE: Initial concepts had the NERVA engine acting in place of the S-IVB upper stage on the Saturn V providing thrust within the atmosphere to place large, and interplanetary payloads into orbit. The NERVA stage would then be used to inject the payload into the final transfer orbit required. In this timeline (as with OTL) engineers are unable to completely solve the problems encountered with fuel element cracking and erosion.

May 14, 1973

Launch of Skylab II, the first dry lab, during launch thermal shielding and a solar panel are torn off.

May 26, 1973

Launch of Skylab II-1, astronauts conduct repairs on the Skylab station during their 28 day mission

Note: This is identical to the Skylab SL-2 mission

June 1973

Modifications to support the Saturn VB program begin at LC-39A. This will require minor modifications to the launch pad, but significant changes to the LUT and arming tower to handle the stretched Saturn.

June 20, 1973

Launch of Voyager 1 and 2 towards mars 

Note: The Voyager probes that explored the outer solar system were not the first program to use that name. In the mid 1960’s an ambitious Mars program was proposed by NASA called Voyager, two probes would be launched on a single Saturn V every 2 years with a combination of orbiters and landers. The program was killed in 1967 and later re-emerged as the more modest Viking program. 

July 18, 1973

The N-1MV program is cancelled.

July 27, 1973

Construction begins on the Human Factors Test Article (HFTA-097). This highly detailed dimensionally accurate model of the Space Shuttle would act as an avionics and electronics test bed (including diagnostic and self-test systems), a validation model for functional interfaces, and a way to test various maintenance procedures for ease of access. It would provide invaluable usability data on the shuttle and lead to design modifications intended to reduce orbiter turnaround times and improve maintenance efficiency.

Note: No mockup of this nature was ever constructed for the shuttle. 

Late 1973- Early 1974

The great shuttle launch pad debate.

As fabrication of the first shuttles began, closer attention was now being called to the infrastructure required to launch and service the new shuttle, a number of proposals had been studied in the previous 2 years but now it came time to make a final decision for inclusion into the FY75 budget. Although many proposals existed they centered around three main alternatives.

1\.  Construction of brand new shuttle facilities.

This option called for the construction of an additional launch complex for the Shuttle, including checkout buildings, VAB, launch pads, and runway. Although this would not conflict with the Saturn VB program, it was expected to cost in excess of $1billion dollars and was by far the most expensive alternative.

2\.  Mixed use/expansion of existing facilities.

Since the original VAB was designed to be expanded to 6 bays and provisions existed for construction of additional launch pads, it was thought that existing facilities could be enhanced to support the Shuttle and on going Saturn V launches. (LC-39D and LC-39E had been looked at early in the Saturn program when Earth Orbital Rendezvous was still a consideration for the Apollo program). While not as expensive as option 1, it would still extremely costly and could potentially disrupt stacking and launch operations of the Saturn VB.

3\.  Abandoning Saturn capability and refurbishing the existing facilities for the Shuttle.

This was by far the most controversial option and really forced NASA to look at its future needs for the Saturn VB during the 1980's. At the time NASA had four major potential programs planned for the 1980’s: The Space Station, the Space Shuttle and possible, but not yet approved manned Mars and Lunar base programs. Once the Shuttle was operational, a Space Station would only require the Saturn VB periodically in order to launch station modules too large for the shuttle. However the station could always be designed to use smaller modules. For future lunar operations the Saturn VB would only be required to launch a NERVA based nuclear shuttle and possibly an orbital/lunar tug. The orbital/lunar tug due to its modular nature could always be launched over multiple shuttle flights. The NERVA engine that would to power the nuclear shuttle, was too large for the Space Shuttle, but was not an absolute requirement for lunar missions. The only program that really required the Saturn VB heavy lift capability would be a manned Mars mission. Such a program would require large payloads that would be too heavy and too large fit in the shuttle payload bay. All of the proposed programs would benefit substantially by having the capability to deliver infrequent large and or heavy payloads into LEO. Some began to question if the cost of continued operation of the labor intensive and expensive Saturn VB was justifiable over the long term. All NASA really needed was a cheap big dumb booster that could deliver, infrequent, large payloads into LEO. With the current available technology a new vehicle could be developed do the job far cheaper than the Saturn VB. Some internal NASA studies estimated that a 300 tonne payload booster could be developed for 2-3 billion dollars with an operational cost of less than half of the Saturn. Assuming 5 launches per year, the new booster could pay for itself in 4 years and deliver twice the payload to LEO.

NASA would formally endorse the second option in January of 1974, but support continued to grow for the third option.

Note: OTL the Saturn program had already been cancelled and thus there was no reason not to use the VAB and LC39 to support shuttle operations. In this ATL Saturn is still operating at full steam and requires these facilties

August 14, 1973

Sergi Korolev dies of complicati ons due to colon cancer.

August 17, 1973

Martin Marietta is awarded the external tank contract for the space shuttle, a low cost manufacturing method is chosen to reduce shuttle operating costs.

September 1973-January 1974

During this time a number of NASA programs started in the 1969-1970 timeframe (Apollo Lunar Applications and Apollo Orbital Applications) were well under way or approaching their first missions. The Skylab I and Skylab II stations had been successful and Skylab III was scheduled for an April 1974 launch. The Space Shuttle and Space Station programs were on track for the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. However there were currently no planned missions beyond LEO once the Extended lunar missions were completed in late 1976. Due to the long lead times for advanced programs the STG recommended that follow on programs be selected now. Two such programs were identified, a manned Lunar Outpost or a Manned Mars Mission. Funding for both would be out of the question, but one was definitely achievable. With increasing Soviet efforts towards the moon Nixon felt the a permanent US presence on the moon was more important to US security than Mars, but that NASA should continue to work towards a future manned Mars mission if the nation should decide to take on the challenge.

September 12, 1973

Launch of Apollo LS-1. During the mission, 14 days are spent in a polar orbit over the moon conducting detailed surveys of the lunar surface. Over 1/3 of the moons surface is covered. Unusual measurements from the moons polar regions indicate that water ice may be present.

September 19, 1973

Contracts for the Artemis Base Phase ‘B’ studies are awarded. Requirements include an initial capability of supporting 3 astronauts on the lunar surface as early as 1978. 

October 10, 1973

Spiro Agnew resigns amid charges of income tax evasion. Gerald Ford becomes Vice President.

November 19, 1973

Government Decree 1419-201 “On development of an MKS (reusable space system) consisting of rocket stages, orbiter aircraft, inter-orbital tug, guidance systems, launch and landing facilities, assembly and repair facilities, and other associated facilities, with the objective of placing in a 200 km Northeast orbit a payload of 30 tonnes and returning a payload of 20 tonnes” is issued. Authorizing full scale development of the Block-T/MKS system

Note: Yes this really was the name of the decree authorizing development of Energia-Buran, of course in this ATL it comes almost 30 months earlier.

December 18, 1973

Launch of Apollo LS-2. During the mission, 14 days are spent in a polar orbit over the moon conducting detailed surveys of the lunar surface. An additional 1/3 of the moons surface is covered bringing the total coverage to 2/3. Additional equipment confirms what appears to be water ice on the moons north and south poles. NASA planners decide that the second extended lunar landing will land at one of the moons poles to verify the possible existence of ice and to take samples.

Jan 1974

During Nixon’s State of the Union address he applauds the efforts of NASA and the success of the initial phase Lunar Exploration and the on going work on board the nations Skylab stations. He calls attention to the upcoming Extended Lunar missions that will “Expand mankind’s knowledge of our homes nearest neighbor” and the ongoing development of the new space shuttle, which will allow “cheap and routine access to space for the first time”. He also announces that he as instructed NASA to begin construction of a permanent lunar outpost to be built in the later half of this decade.

January 4, 1974

Start structural assembly of Crew Module for OV-101

February 17, 1974

Start of long lead fabrication for the Main Propulsion Test Article (MPTA-098). The MPTA is essentially the structural elements, plumbing and tankage of the aft section of the Shuttle. It is designed to test structural loads under launch conditions. It is also used to test the SSME in its installed configuration.

March 26, 1974

Start structural assembly of aft-fuselage for OV-101

April 14, 1974

NASA issues three, 6-month $500,000 study contracts to General Dynamics/Areojet, Martin Marietta and McDonnell Douglas to study a possible low cost heavy launch vehicle.

April 30, 1974

First launch of the SaturnVB. The unmanned Apollo 601 mission will also be the first test flight of the block III Command Service Module that includes a number of enhancements to improve the endurance and remote operability of the vehicle. Mission successfully lands a lunar shelter test article on the Ocean of Storms validating the systems required for the extended duration lunar missions.

May 19, 1974

Construction of SLC-7 at Vandenberg AFB for the Space Shuttle begins.

Note: Due to the ongoing MOL program in the ATL it is not possible for SLC-6 to be converted into launch pads for the Space Shuttle as was done OTL. Thus construction of a new launch facility SLC-7 is required. It is estimated that using converting SLC-6 into a Shuttle Launch pad saved only $100 million out of the almost $4 billion that were spent on Space Shuttle activities at Vandenberg. The Challenger disaster would end any hope of the Shuttle ever flying out of Vandenberg.

June 1974

Congress approves Nixon’s FY1975 NASA budget request, it includes funding for the Artemis lunar outpost. Addition funds for supporting programs such as the space tug, Moonlab and an additional Saturn V launch pad (LC39C) are also included. 

July 18, 1974

Contracts are awarded to a variety of aerospace companies for the construction of the Artemis Lunar Base. In particular McDonnell Douglas will develop and build the LLV (Lunar Logistics Vehicle) which will also test and validate a number of systems for the planned modular space tug. Gruman will build a 3 man version of the Lunar Taxi being used in Apollo Lunar Applications Program, Boeing, Westinghouse, Caterpillar and Lockheed will provide the modules to be assembled into the final outpost. Proposed base components include

\- Nuclear Reactor for station power (Westinghouse)

\- Lunar Construction Vehicle (Catterpillar)

\- Habitation Module (Boeing)

\- 2 Lab Modules (Lockheed)

\- Hydroponics Module

\- A prototype "factory" module that would demonstrate the extraction of lunar resources

\- Lunar Observatory Module

\- MoLab

July 20, 1974 Design and construction contracts are awarded for the construction of LC39C. The first planned launch will be the Skylab C station in early 1976. 

August 5, 1974

The SNAP-8 nuclear reactor is selected as the power plant for the Artemis lunar base.

August 8, 1974 

Nixon Resigns over the growing Watergate scandal. Gerald Ford becomes President of the United States

October 6, 1974

First drop test of the X-26 mini-shuttle.

October 14, 1974

Results of the HLV study verify NASA's internal studies. Mathematica and Rand Company reports also concur with the findings, that significant cost savings could be achieved by developing a new HLV. The most promising design is from General Dynamics, based on the Nova GD-E design it had proposed almost a decade earlier. It would make use of low cost tank construction techniques being developed for the Shuttle, the M-1A engine, and large low cost SRB's based on the Areojet solids being used in the Saturn II program. The general- purpose computers being developed for the Shuttle would be used to provide control far cheaper than the Saturn's Instrument unit. The proposed vehicle would be capable of placing 1,250,000 of payload into LEO and would cost $2.0 billion to develop, plus $500 million in associated infrastructure costs, and have a flight cost of approximately $150 million dollars. General Dynamics would make a compelling economic argument, using the Nova design would replace three separate stage production lines (S-ID, S-IIB, S-IVC) with two (The Nova's SRB's and Core stage), saving money. A new launch complex scaled for a moderate launch rate (5 per year) would be much smaller and cheaper than the Saturn facilities, and the existing LC-39 and VAB could to be modified to support the shuttle, rather than expanding the complex. The study concluded that a new HLV could pay for itself within 5 years and would provide an augmented capability to launch large space station and Mars modules. All the other contractor submissions come to similar conclusions.

October 17, 1974

The EUK13 dimensional model of the Block-T is delivered to Baikonur for handling demonstrations and production of tooling.

Late 1974 

The results of the HLV study cause NASA to re-evaluate its decision to expand the VAB and LC-39. Site preparation work, which had begun for 2 additional high bays, is put on hold and later cancelled. Discussions with the OMB and Ford Administration are positive. The Air-force lends its support since the new HLV could be used to launch large military space platforms. NASA issues an RFP to design, develop and test a low cost HLV based on the General Dynamics proposal.

October 20, 1974

Launch of the joint Apollo-Soyuz Mission

October 27, 1974

Start long lead fabrication aft fuselage for OV-102

November 10, 1974

First launch for the Apollo A-1 mission, the first American long duration mission to the lunar surface, this unmanned flight would carry the lunar shelter to the surface. Shelter was successfully landed at the Marius Hills.

November 13, 1974

Second launch for the Apollo A-1 mission, this flight would carry Gerald Carr, Don Lind to the lunar surface for their 14-day stay. 

December 11, 1974

USAF and NASA propose the X-24C a manned hypersonic test aircraft to be launched off the back of the XB-70 AV/3. It is an outgrowth of the X-15C and HYFAC proposals. The program hopes to ultimately test a scramjet in flight. The Lockheed Skunkworks would win the contract to build 2 aircraft. 

December 20, 1974

Wing/tail assemblies arrive at Palmdale from Grumman for OV-101

Early 1975 - The Case for Mars Develops

TODO

January 3, 1975 

First powered flight of the X-26

January 24, 1975

Start structural assembly of aft-fuselage for MPTA-098.

March 23, 1975 Final development contracts for the SNAP-8 Lunar Reactor (S8LR) are issued. 3 reactors would be built, one for use at Artemis base (S8LR2), one as a backup (S8LR3), and one as a ground test model (S8LR1).

March 24, 1975

Start of Final Assembly for OV-101

May 2, 1975

NASA awards a $2.2 billion dollar contract to General Dynamics/Areojet to develop; build and test fly the HLV booster later christened “Nova". The contract includes a single test flight planned for late 1979. NASA decides to construct the new launch complex (LC-44) on land originally acquired for the original Nova booster proposed in the early 1960's. The vehicle will carry 1,250,000 lbs (568 tonnes) into LEO and will use 4 M-1A engines in the central core and 4 375" disposable SRB's

May 25, 1975

NASA announces that the expected production run of the Saturn V-B will be 50 vehicles. This will be sufficient to support all currently approved NASA programs (Apollo Lunar Applications/Artemis Base/NERVA)

May 27, 1975

X-26 breaks the sound barrier for the first time.

June 17, 1975

Start long-lead fabrication of crew module for OV-102

July 16, 1975

The NERVA-N1 mission is launched. This unmanned non-propulsive test of the NERVA XE’ reactor in orbit confirms the system is ready for a full scale test in earth orbit. The reactor is run for several hours, simulating various power levels and conditions. When completed the reactor is SCRAMed to validate safety systems and injected into a 1600 year orbit using solid rocket attached to the stage. 

August 18, 1975

Launch of Soyuz-Skylab a 14 day  Soviet visit to  the American Skylab C space station

TODO

August 1975-July 1976

The X-26 begins a series of high-speed flight tests at Edwards Airforce Base to verify the supersonic performance of the Space Shuttle, eventually reaching speeds in excess of Mach 6. As a result of these flights minor adjustments are made to the shuttle’s design to improve stability and heat shield performance

July 23,1975

Aft Truss for MPTA-098 on dock at Rockwell Downey plant

August 17, 1975

Complete premate for MPTA-098 aft truss at Downey and delivered to Palmdale. 

October 12, 1975

Complete final assembly of OV-101

October 29, 1975

Arrival of MPTA internal oxygen tank from Martin Marietta.

November 3, 1975

Complete proof load test setup for MPTA-098 aft truss at Palmdale 

December 7, 1975

NASA releases its reference manned Mars mission architecture (commonly referred to as Mars ’75), it is the first study to include the use of the Nova booster. Mission profile calls for a sequence of 6 Mars expeditions launched in pairs using the 1986, 1988 and 1990 launch windows. The 1986 mission would involve 8 Nova launches to assemble 2 Mars craft in low Earth orbit. The first launch for each craft would carry a Mars Mission Modules (MMM's) and 2 Mars Excursion Modules (MEM's). MMM's would house the crew during the transit between Earth and Mars (and back) and would be derived from the 10m Space Base modules. MEM's would each support 4 astronauts on the surface for 60 days. The remaining 3 launches would carry the improved NERVA-3 hybrid engine, 2 general purpose spacecraft derived from the Apollo CSM and tug and over 1680 metric tonnes of fuel. The 1986 mission would be an opposition class mission with 60 days on the Martian surface. By launching the craft in pairs each expedition could provide mutual support should problems develop, up to and including evacuating the crew of one craft to the other.

The 1998 and 1990 missions would use 7 and 6 Nova launches respectively to assemble 2 conjunction class missions for each launch window. Each craft would land 5 astronauts on the Martian Surface for 300-400 days. In this case one of the MEM's for each craft would be configured as a surface base.

The first mars mission would pre predated by the launch of a MMM module for a 2-3 year long mission in LEO to validate systems and simulate the psychological stresses of a manned mars mission.


End file.
